County: Dublin Site name: Croppies Acre, Benburb Street, Dublin 7
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020447 Licence number: 15E0437
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: Alluvial deposits, post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714029m, N 734431m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.347793, -6.287379
A programme of testing was carried out along the northern side of Croppies
Acre, Dublin 7. Testing identified three/four broad phases of activity, which also tie in with the results of the previous 1998 testing and monitoring programmes carried out by Baker and Swan: Phase 1, 20th century (c. 0-0.4m depth); Phase 2, 19th-century (c. 0.4-0.85m) surfaces, drains and demolition rubble; Phase 3a, 18th-century (c. 0.85-1.13m depth) disturbed alluvial deposits; Phase 3b (c. 1.13m+ depth), in-situ alluvial deposits.
Only Phase 3 is of significant archaeological interest, in particular Phase 3b. No artefacts were recovered from Phase 3b, but a sloping lens of charcoal at a depth of 1.8m may indicate a ditch or similar feature, and the deposit should be assumed to be archaeologically significant based on previous investigations along the Liffey banks.
The 18th-century structures shown on Brooking’s map of 1728 in the north-east of the site have been completely demolished, though one small undated wall fragment was identified and may relate to these.
No evidence for human remains or the burial ground at Croppies Acre (DU018-020447) was noted. A 19th-century source places it to the south of the tested area, in the area of the current 1798 Memorial Park. Swan’s testing in 1998 (98E0268), however, did not identify any burials, suggesting the location could be inexact. No additional information regarding this could be ascertained in 2015 and it remains possible that the burial location could be anywhere within Croppies Acre park, or not in the park at all.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2
