County: Dublin Site name: DCU All Hallows Campus, Grace Park Road, Drumcondra, Dublin 9
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 19E0279
Author: Antoine Giacometti
Site type: Prehistoric
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 716609m, N 737240m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.370972, -6.249053
An excavation at DCU All Hallows Campus, Drumcondra, Dublin 9 took place within the footprint of a new school building in the Summer of 2019, with further monitoring taking place until 2020.
The excavation uncovered a cluster of small light-weight structures situated at the edge of a former watercourse. These are likely to be prehistoric in date (a forthcoming radiocarbon date should confirm this). These remains are highly significant, as they constitute very rare evidence for the presence of prehistoric people in the wider Drumcondra area. This prehistoric settlement was situated on a ridge overlooking the Tolka Valley, and may be contemporary with a prehistoric burial site uncovered in 2009 on the same ridge to the southeast, in the ChildVision campus (Moriarty 2009, 21; 09E0437; Exc. Bull.: 2009: 306).
The excavation also uncovered evidence for medieval and post-medieval agricultural activity in the form of ditches. These date to the period when the site formed part of the agricultural Clonturk lands belonging to the Augustinian Priory of All Hallows, and then later the agricultural lands attached to Drumcondra Castle.
Evidence for 18th-century farming and gardening was also found, dating to the period of use of Drumcondra House and gardens. Part of the boundary of Drumcondra House was tentatively identified and it is possible that further work on this boundary planned for 2020 may identify a much earlier phase dating to well before the 18th century. A 20th-century ballcourt was also uncovered.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2
