2014:486 - Rose Garden, Trinity College, Dublin, College Green, Dublin 2, Dublin

Trinity College is currently undergoing an upgrading of all major services and this included laying of a new service route (for fibre-optic cables) along the main pedestrian route linking the east and west end of college, through College Park. Monitoring was carried out at the western end of this route, just east of the Ussher Library and extending northwards into the Rose Garden. The first representation of the college in c. 1592 (the Hatfield depiction) depicts the newly-built college, the quadrangle reusing some of the former monastic buildings of the Priory of All Hallows, which originally occupied the site. The new college is flanked by the Liffey on the north and has formal geometric gardens to the west and south but the site under discussion, College Park, is shown as rough, uncultivated and unenclosed ground, at this time. Almost 20 years later, in 1610, Speed’s map demonstrates College Park is still outside the precinct but by 1678 a map by Bernard de Gomme records that the area had been set in cultivation with a defined field system, serviced by what is now Nassau Street and Leinster Street South along the southern side. By the time of the Dineley drawing in 1681, the site is probably within the walled garden depicted in this area but by 1756, Rocque’s map indicates that this end of college was completely transformed and laid out in a large park, annotated ‘College Park’ and planted with numerous trees. The wet and marshy conditions are marked by a large canal that is shown extending diagonally across College Park, from the north-west to the south-east, which was evidently a major topographical feature (and may have originally formed part of the town's defences).

The site formed part of a wooded area that flanked College Park on the northern side. Shortly after the completion of Rocque’s map of 1756 works began on the major reconstruction of the western end of college which saw the sweeping away of the Old College and most of Library Square as part of the creation of the monumental Parliament Square, now Front Square. Thus the Old Quadrangle was demolished along with the western and northern range of Library Square. This massive clearance programme created a large amount of rubble, stone, brick etc. , and investigations throughout the college suggest that this rubble and demolition material was not removed but used to raise the ground level throughout college including the western end in College Park. Thus monitoring programmes in Front Square, College Green, The Provost’s garden and College Park have all located rubble and demolition and infilling material from this massive project.

The trenches were excavated mechanically and by hand and generally measured 0.4m in width by between 0.7m and 1m in depth. The programme of works, as suspected, did locate layers of demolition material, comprising early brick, mortar, cobbles and limestone along with domestic refuse. The infill layers were banded and must have originated in different stock-piled material, including at least one mortar layer in the northern end of Section 2 which extended for over 5m in length but which continued northwards in Section 3 where it was at its deepest, at 0.75m.

Typical section

0 - 0.05m: Tarmac.

0.05 - 0.1m: Hardcore (804).

0.1 - 0.17m: A second layer of tarmac.

0.17 - 0.43m: Dark cultivation soil, which is very black and forms the bed for what remains of a cobbled surface in the eastern section. A total of three cobbles survive measuring between 0.14m and 0.17m in diameter. This is the remains of a very truncated surface, lying 0.25m below present ground level.

0.43 - 0.95m: Dark grey stone and clay mix, with rubble stones and fragments of brick. This demolition material most likely came from the original College quadrangle (now Front Square) producing details such as the type of bricks used in the College, from the 16th century onwards, along with numerous mortar types.

A significant deposit in the central area of the site is likely to have originated in the construction of a building, rather than its demolition, suggested by the fact the mortar was very pure with no other demolition debris and that it also contained ‘rough-outs’, fragments of stone that were evidently roughly carved by stonemasons probably working on site. The Museum building is the obvious contender. Although the mortar does not visually match the decorative stone in this building, this may be an effect of weathering.

The monitoring programme also established that there are layers of domestic refuse which were used to infill the ground along with the demolition material and these deposits are likely to contain ceramics, glass and bone, which are of historic and cultural significance.

Finally, the monitoring programme also located some structural remains although these were very limited. The foundations of two walls, both of which are likely to date to after 1836 as they are not on the Ordnance Survey map of that date, were exposed along with part of a cobbled surface, probably a path or access route (as it measured 1.6m in width north-south), which is likely to date to the same period. A rough kerbing or edging was not a substantial feature but it is relatively early in this sequence as it was sealed by infill and demolition material of the mid-to-late 18th century. It was presumably related to some garden feature, perhaps a raised bed or edging along a path, and was left in situ and not disturbed. It should be noted that Section 3, just east of the Museum building, produced a very compact green/grey clay which contained animal bone and shell and nothing else. This may represent a medieval dumped deposit.

28 Cabinteely Close, Cabinteely, Dublin 18