County: Dublin Site name: O’Neill’s Pub, Church Lane/Suffolk Street, Dublin 2
Sites and Monuments Record No.: RPS: 1542/7863, DU018 020132, DU018-020 Licence number: 20E0103
Author: Paul Duffy and Robert Hanbidge
Site type: Post-medieval stone-lined well
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715820m, N 734042m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343912, -6.260637
Archaeological monitoring was undertaken at O’Neill’s pub as per the planning conditions attached to the development by Dublin City Council from the 24-28 February and 13 March 2020.
The structures 3-4 Church Lane and 1-2 Suffolk Street are both listed on the Record of Protected Structures for Dublin City as a licenced premise (RPS: 1542/7863). A mound (DU018 020132) that might represent the Viking Thingmot or part of the Viking burial ground, Hoggen Green, is recorded within the northern limit of the development footprint. The site is also situated within the zone of archaeological potential for the historic town of Dublin (DU018-020). There are a further five recorded monuments within a 100m radius of the site.
Monitoring at the site was mainly centred around excavations for a small foundational box in the basement of O’Neill’s Pub (to house a lift shaft). The foundational box was dug to a depth of 1.5m and exposed the upper portions of a post-medieval well. The remaining lower portion of the well remains untouched and survives in situ. The well featured a drystone lining; towards the base of the exposed section of the well, a portion of wooden timber pipe was present projecting up, suggesting that the well may have remained in use as a water cistern.
Several pieces of post-medieval cup sherds, clay pipe stem fragments and plate sherds were discovered in the backfill of the well, supporting a late post-medieval to modern date for its infilling. No other archaeological features were discovered during monitoring works.
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