2016:122 - Lands off Brighton Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, Dublin

Updated in April 2018 after radiocarbon dates. Final Report available on archaeology plan website.

A natural spring provided the setting for prehistoric activity. Multiple large wells with steps leading into them were dug into the spring during the Middle and Late Bronze Age from about 1400 BC to 900 BC. A cobbled surface and a rectangular trough had been constructed beside the well, surrounded by a spread of fire-cracked stone and charcoal. A Bronze Age ceramic vessel was among the artefacts found inside the well. This had been used as a fulacht fiadh - a place where stones were heated up by fire, and the hot stones were then placed in the water-filled trough. It was used in this way periodically for approximately 500 years, an enormous span of time.

In the mid-7th century AD a structure was erected on the mound of burnt stones next to the spring. The structure is unique in the Irish archaeological record, and does not fit into any of the known types of pre-800 AD early medieval structures. It was not a house, nor was it a church. An early medieval well had been dug into the spring, and the structure may have been an early Christian shrine or baptistery, dedicated perhaps to a Munster saint such as Cian. In the mid-9th century the structure was intentionally dismantled and burnt down, and this can be linked to the expansion of the ecclesiastical site at Tully.

Reference:

https://archaeologyplan.com/projects-3/ 

Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2