2017:763 - OLD KILMAINHAM: New Children’s Hospital at St James Hospital Campus, Mount Brown, Dublin

This site was identified in advance of the construction of the New Children’s Hospital on the St James Hospital campus. The remains of a 17–18th-century building including a cobbled surface and fireplace was exposed beneath two 19–20th-century houses in Test Trench 44 during archaeological testing by Thaddeus Breen of Shanarc Ltd. under licence 16E0408. The subsequent excavation of Test Trench 44 was carried out by Donald Murphy between 8 and 26 May 2017 under licence 17E0112. A detection device licence was also issued (17R0071) to enable metal detection during the excavation of the site.

Test Trench 44 is located at the base of a steep slope running downhill from south to north; its northern limit runs parallel to Mount Brown and it lies within the Zone of Archaeological Potential for the historic city of Dublin (DU018-020). The excavation revealed the foundation remains of two buildings (Buildings 1 and 2) which had several phases of construction and which were for a time (at least in the 19th century) part of the one house. Both buildings had intact evidence for floors, drains, fireplaces and doorways. Associated cobbled yards were exposed to the rear along with stone and brick drains which served the buildings and carried surface and waste water to the Old Kilmainham Road which borders the site to the north. Apart from the buildings and their associated features, two wells and at least another two pits proved to be of medieval date indicating that there was activity on the site from at least the 14th/15th century. The building foundations all dated to the post-medieval period.

The finds from the excavation consisted of animal bone, glass, medieval and later pottery, iron objects and slate and, apart from the medieval Dublin ware sherds, are consistent with occupation of the site during the 18–20th century.

All archaeological features within the site were excavated to natural deposits. The walls of Buildings 1 and 2 continued northwards towards the road and it is probable that the front wall of both buildings will be exposed during any groundworks. It would be desirable to identify the location of the front wall and therefore complete the plan of both buildings. It is recommended therefore that monitoring of all groundworks in both these areas be undertaken.