County: Dublin Site name: River House, Chancery Street, Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 18E0589
Author: Paul Duffy, IAC Ltd
Site type: Medieval/post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715013m, N 734381m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.347134, -6.272628
A programme of test trenching was carried out at the site of River House, Chancery Street, Dublin 7 in response to planning conditions attached to a proposed development by An Bord Pleanala (Planning Ref.: PL 29N.248961) It follows a previous desktop report carried out by Karen Dempsey of IAC Ltd in February 2017.
A total of 10 test trenches were excavated across the footprint of the site. Testing has shown that while the site has been subjected to extensive disturbance in the post-medieval and modern periods, archaeological features, structures and deposits survive within the areas tested.
17th-18th centuries
The latest phase of archaeology is represented onsite by a number of c. 18th-century cellars which were identified in the southern, western and north-eastern extremities of the site in addition to some pits and cess-filled features of potential 17th-century date.
12th-15th centuries
Throughout the remainder of the site, the natural ground level was observed to slope significantly towards the south. Across this area, late/post-medieval and medieval garden soils were observed c. 1.5m below the present ground level, surviving up to a depth of 1.5m in places. The top of these deposits occurs at c. 2-2.5m O.D.
These garden soils were graded out in a number of targeted locations and several earth-cut features were identified cutting into the natural subsoils below. It was not possible to investigate these features further due to the depth of the trenches. Given that these features are sealed by c. 13th-century garden soils, they are likely to be medieval in date.
In Trench 7, a significant depth of medieval deposit was encountered which surpassed a depth of 5m below present ground level. This deposit was a homogenous dark brown/black organic clay containing frequent shell, charcoal and animal bone (including some cut antler tine) and sherds of Dublin-type ware and Saintonge ceramic of probable 13th-century date. This deposit was not bottomed. It is possible that the entirety of the test trench (0.5m wide x 1.5m long) fell within the footprint of a large earth-cut feature such as a cess pit or a ditch. However, given the location of this trench towards the south-east corner of the site, it is perhaps more likely that this deposit represents medieval reclamation deposit overlying the original riverbank of the Liffey.
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