2017:194 - Old Schoolhouse, Church Road, Swords, Dublin

A programme of monitoring was carried out at the Old School House Bar and Restaurant, Swords, Co. Dublin from January to September 2017. The works related to a new brewery building to the south and new carpark to the north of the existing complex.

The most significant archaeology uncovered was to the south of the existing restaurant and inn complex, close to Well Road. The eastern edge of a north-south running watercourse was identified to the east. The edge of the watercourse was convex at the top becoming concave towards the base. It was a minimum of 7.25m in width and 2.4m in depth, with the western side of the feature not lying within the site. This feature may mark the original edge of the Ward River floodplain, or may represent a former line of the stream to the west of Well Road. Evidence for the silting up of this feature was recorded, overlain by a deposit associated with medieval (13th-14th-century) pottery which may derive from land reclamation. Medieval land reclamation along the slope down to the Ward River has previously been identified on the opposite side of the river to the north (Excavation Licence No. 16E115, Excavations Ref. 2016:138). It is perhaps more likely that the watercourse edge identified on the site relates to the natural edge of the Ward River floodplain, with medieval land reclamation deposits being laid over the silting-up floodplain. It is possible the floodplain was more managed by this time by the mills and weirs relating to the medieval settlement.

A metalled surface measuring a minimum of 1.5m in width, also of medieval date, ran along the dry land just above the floodplain/stream to the east. This may be part of a former laneway, perhaps being the former route of Well Road. It is possible the medieval land reclamation layer within the watercourse was laid down to establish the road.

Elsewhere on the site a number of c. 18th-century walls were recorded to the south-east and patches of cobbling and very truncated walls were identified to the north relating to the remains of a 19th-century row of houses known as ‘The Banks’ or the Hollows Lane, which previously fronted onto the laneway along the Ward River.

Both the watercourse and the road continued to the north and may survive beneath the terrace to the front of the Old Schoolhouse building. They also may survive to the south beneath the modern road.

Aileach Archaeology, on behalf of Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2