County: Dublin Site name: St James' Church, Dublin 8
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018- 020 346 Licence number: 14E0129
Author: Aisling Collins
Site type: Medieval graveyard
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 713897m, N 733970m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343683, -6.289528
At the request of TOTP Architects, 49 Upper Mount St, Dublin 2, ACAS (Aisling Collins Archaeological Services) undertook testing in advance of the proposed refurbishment at St James' Church, to develop it as a heritage centre and distillery with an exhibition and merchandise area all on the ground floor.
The church is listed as an RMP, DU018- 020 346. The church, front entrance gates, railings and gate-piers are listed as protected structures (ref 4053)
The following summarises the results of testing for Phase 1.
To facilitate the engineering design of drainage routes (etc.) for the proposed distillery five trenches were opened over two weeks (from 09/02/15 to 20/02/15) in the grounds of St James’ Church, one to the west of the church building and three to the south. Excavation was accomplished by a mini-digger using a 0.6m wide grading bucket.
Trench 1 (on the west side of the church) revealed a horizon relating to the Georgian graveyard (i.e. prior to the 1860 rebuild of the church,) with six associated gravestones lying horizontally.
Trench 2 (against the south wall of the aisle) revealed two drains (F11 and 12) and a foundation plinth (F14); all were part of the 1860 church, although the plinth may be built up off the south wall of the Georgian church.
Trenches 3 and 5 (underneath the current path on the south side of the church), like trench 1, revealed the Georgian horizon to the south of the church and six gravestones. Two burials (burials 2 and 3) were also discovered within the trench at approximately 1m below PGL, one cutting into the other (no date has as yet been ascertained for the burials.) In the northern section face of the trench a foundation wall, F43, running east-west, most probably part of the Georgian church, was uncovered.
Trench 4 was dug parallel to the site railings on the south of the church grounds and marked a clear difference from the others as it was dug across the remains of levelled Victorian and Georgian house(?) structures. A wall running diagonally across the trench (F28) was possibly the fireplace of a ‘Dutch Billy' style structure. At its eastern terminus a burial (burial 1) was discovered at a depth of approximately 1.2m below PGL. The burials position and depth suggest an early (probably pre-Georgian) date.
ACAS, Annesley Mews, Brighton Ave, Monkstown, Co Dublin
