County: Dublin Site name: Old Schoolhouse Restaurant and Inn, Church Road, Swords
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 12E341
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 717952m, N 746674m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.456906, -6.223923
A programme of monitoring was carried out in September 2012 for a small extension to the south-east of the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant and Inn, a Protected Structure, in Swords.
The monitoring programme identified a thick layer of mixed redeposited clay dating to the 19th century, at least 1m in thickness below the existing ground level, and which predated the original schoolhouse building. This was the earliest material identified on the site (natural subsoil was not encountered) and appears to have been laid down in the 1830s as a construction level during the construction of the school. A number of ceramic pipe services had been cut into this layer and these were backfilled partly with waste quarried material from the rock face to the east of the site.
A large number of glass bottles and other artefacts dating to c. 1880-1920 were identified above this, forming part of a bank that extends to the south of the proposed extension site. The good condition of the glassware and the unmixed nature of the lenses of cinders, charcoal and ash suggest this was a primary refuse area during the use of the school. The bottles have been retained for display at the Old Schoolhouse Restaurant and Inn.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
