2019:422 - DUBLIN: Little Mary Street, Dublin

Testing was carried out intermittently at the former Keelings warehouse over a series of days running from May to September 2019 using a mechanical excavator fitted with a flat grading bucket. Trenching was split into two phases to facilitate the demolition of a large modern building that stood on the site. A total of 12 trenches were excavated, totalling 242.7m in length.

Elements of a substantial stone structure of medieval date were uncovered in the western part of the site. This structure had been heavily modified and largely dismantled in the early 18th century. Given that the site lies within the outer precinct of St Mary’s Abbey, any medieval structures are likely to be associated with this foundation. Architectural features, read in conjunction with the cartographic evidence, would seem to confirm that this structure is a gatehouse, likely to be associated with the inner precinct of the Abbey. In addition to diagonal buttresses and a ground-level batter, several architectural fragments of Dundry stone retrieved within the vicinity of the structure may indicate a 13th-century date.

The testing also illustrated that approximately 15-20% of the surface area of the site had been disturbed by extensive concrete foundations from the Keeling’s warehouse. Mass concrete had also been poured into the cavities of 18th-century cellars, particularly along Little Mary Street.

Testing revealed that extensive cellaring has been carried out around the eastern, southern and western perimeters of the site, namely along Anglesea Row, Little Mary Street and Little Green Street. An element of cellaring has also been identified towards the centre of the site. These findings confirm the picture of the site presented in Rocque’s map of 1756. While, in the majority of cases, these cellars have been excavated into the underlying natural subsoil/gravels, in some places, archaeological deposits and features have been identified beneath the cellars.

Outside of the cellared areas, significant depths of intact archaeological stratigraphy have been identified, particularly in the central and northern part of the site. Up to 2.5m of stratigraphy was encountered in these areas. In the main, these deposits were clearly of 17th-century date and later, however some discrete areas of possible medieval clays were identified in the south and west of the site. The deposits identified would seem to support a reading that the site lay within the outer precinct of St Mary’s Abbey and was in use as agricultural land or gardens/orchards throughout the medieval period and into the 17th century.