2008:466 - St Michael’s Christian Brothers’ School (former), Inchicore, Dublin

Test-trenching was undertaken in advance of the construction of a proposed HSE Health Care Facility and Community Nursing Unit at the site of the former Christian Brothers’ School behind St Michael’s Estate, Inchicore, Dublin 8.
All of the St Michael’s Housing Estate and the proposed development site were once occupied by the parade grounds, accommodation ranges, and ancillary buildings of Richmond Barracks, which was established in the first decade of the 19th century. Most of the signatories of the 1916 Declaration of Independence, as well as large numbers of their fellow rebels, were temporarily interned in Richmond Barracks prior to their execution or internment in British prisoner camps. With political independence in the early 1920s, the barracks were handed over to Irish government forces. They were found to be surplus to military requirements and were sold off, at which point the eastern portion was converted to a school.
The foundations of the former early 19th-century (constructed 1810–1840) barracks building were identified in the test-trenches. Ten east–west wall foundations were encountered spaced at intervals of 2.3–4.1m apart. The rear (eastern) north–south wall of the structure still survives as the eastern site boundary wall. The wall foundations were constructed from shaped limestone mortared blocks and generally measured 0.6–0.9m in width, widening at four chimney foundations which would have supported eight side-wall fireplaces at ground-floor level. The top of the foundations was 0.7m below the existing ground surface, at a level of c. 23.9m OD. An extensive layer of loose demolition rubble lay around the building foundations, and was composed of mortar, red brick, stone, window glass, roof slates, and numerous fragments of metal building fixtures. An empty military shell was also identified in this material, as well as occasional fragments of 19th- or 20th-century crockery.
The building originally measured 38.3m north–south by 12.3m (external measurements) and was rectangular in shape. The foundations excavated match exactly with OS cartographic depictions dating from 1837 to 1963. Most of the building foundations will be removed during construction of the proposed CNU building; however, a corner of it will be retained and incorporated into an outdoor yard space, together with an information panel providing a summary of the historical and archaeological background to Richmond Barracks.
No traces of the original 19th-century parade grounds (paths, gardens, etc.) were noted, presumably due to extensive mid-20th-century landscaping of the site. 18th-century material predating the barracks was also identified in the form of patchily surviving agricultural soils and cultivation furrows.