2012:663 - Ship Street Little, Dublin, Dublin

Please note that the licence was issued after the works here were carried out, in an emergency situation, hence the licence year is 2013 but the works took place in 2012.

Emergency road works were carried out by Dublin City Council along Ship Street Little in February 2012 and this involved excavating ‘soft material’ from two large depression in the cobbles, which became very hazardous to the public, in a short period of time. The works were carried out mechanically using a JCB and by hand, and the general methodology was to excavate out the depressions and infill them with stone (804). During this work the site foreman identified brick build along with organic fill that contained a large amount of ceramic material and immediately informed the City Archaeologist, Dr Ruth Johnson, who contacted the writer. On inspection, the brick build was identified as the Poddle culvert, dated to the 17th century, the brick-arched roof of which was exposed, lying just 0.7m beneath present ground level, considerably higher than previously thought. The arched structure was not damaged and there was no visible impact on the integrity of the structure, as the excavations were halted immediately by Dublin City Council Roads Division.

Trench 1

The first trench was located on the northern side of the road, just 1.71m south of the pavement and just west of the octagonal turret on the city wall (the north-west corner of the pit was located 8.29m south of the city wall, 1.35m west of the turret). The pit measured 3m square and was approximately 1.85m in depth originally but had been partially back-filled with 804 stone by the time the writer arrived. The work exposed part of the northern spring of the arched roof of the Poddle culvert, which ran east-west along the southern side of the pit, just 0.7m from the southern edge of the pit. The Poddle is fully accessible below-ground via a manhole on Ship Street Little further east (the river is tidal and the culvert subject to flooding). The culvert was composed of bright (pre-imperial) orange brick, handmade with no inclusions and measuring, on average, 0.2m long by 0.13m wide by 5.5mm in depth. The brick was all very similar and the structure was mortared with an off-while lime mortar but with very distinctive wide joints/pointing.

A significant north-south wall was also identified along the western end of the trench and this was contemporary with the culvert, built of the same material and clearly the same date. This appeared to represent some form of cellar perhaps associated with early houses running along the street.

A standing wall on the current vacant site to the west of the trench is built of similar brick with wide joints suggesting the culvert and wall may be contemporary, possibly dating to the late 17th century. This wall may have formed part of the Pole mills in this location. Significant fill deposits were also identified on the northern side of the culvert.

An attempt had been made to access the culvert, presumably from the cellar that is likely to have fronted onto it and a square hole was cut into the arch, however, there was an internal brick arch which was left intact.

Trench 2

A second trench was opened up 2.61m to east of Trench 1, located 7.4m south of the city wall, and this measured 3m square by 1.6m in depth. This exposed the eastwards continuation of the Poddle culvert, the arched roof lying 0.73m below present ground level and composed of the same orange brick with wide joints as in Trench 1. The northern wall was exposed at the eastern end but this was of limestone, not brick, measuring 0.37m in width by 0.26m in depth. This wall is likely to represent an earlier wall which contained the Poddle and was later covered in in brick as was found further east at Dublin Castle, outside the Chester Beatty Library. The northern wall was badly built of rough limestone, measuring, on average 0.2m by 0.3m by 0.1m and bonded with a hard grey cementatious mortar containing flecks of orange brick.

The culvert was sealed by a very distinctive layer of brick dust, lying 0.55m below present ground level and measuring 0.3m in depth.

The cellar

The Poddle culvert appears to have been within a cellar similar to that in Trench 1 as the remains of walls were found along the north and west section creating a chamber measuring 2.7m north-south by 2.9m. The north wall was 0.8m in height at the eastern end and 0.5m at the western, lying 0.73m below present ground level, and was composed of brick, half bricks and some limestone. The latter were of irregular sizes measuring between 0.23m by 0.10m and 0.16m and 0.08m. The west wall was lying 0.7m below present ground level and extended for 1.4m in length with a second skin wall at the northern end. It was composed mostly of half bricks at the western end but included well-cut rectangular limestone blocks measuring 0.17m by 70mm and 0.13m by 70mm.

An attempt had also been made to access the culvert and this was more successful, cutting through the limestone wall. It was completely blocked however, and may represent the remains of a drain.

The findings of the inspection programme were significant for such a small investigation. The exact location of the north side of the brick Poddle culvert was identified, built sometime soon after 1678, and the level of the top of the structure, relative to the existing ground level, was also established. Additional walls on the northern side of the structure represent the remains of domestic brick houses built between the street and the city wall at this time. The identification of the type of brick and method of construction used both in the culvert and the foundations is very relevant to an above-ground standing wall to the west of the site, which forms the modern boundary of the open car-park that probably marks the exact site of the mill. This standing wall therefore, is of some antiquity, forming the east wall of a brick house, probably late 17th century. The Pole mills, comprising a building on either side of the water-course in 1756, butted up against this wall.

28 Cabinteely Close, Old Bray Road, Cabinteely, Dublin 18.