County: Dublin Site name: 72 Thomas Street, Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 21E0046
Author: Paul Duffy
Site type: Medieval urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714785m, N 733850m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342413, -6.276243
Archaeological monitoring of the groundworks was undertaken intermittently from 26 May until 19 July 2021 as per the contractor’s programme of works. Some limited archaeological material and more extensive, later structural features were revealed during the works.
Monitoring has identified probable medieval horizons at c. 0.8m below present ground level. These comprised a relict topsoil with several shallow cut features evident – a probable boundary element and refuse pit.
A possibly medieval clap limestone wall paralleling Thomas Street and cutting the medieval clays may relate to Alderman Robert Bennett’s house constructed in the later 16th century.
The structural remains were for the most part the surviving rear lower portions of the later 18th/19th-century buildings that formerly stood on the site. However, part of an earlier structure, namely the base of a corner fireplace, a distinctive feature of ‘Dutch Billy’ houses, was also discovered to the rear of No. 71 Thomas Street. This indicates a probable early 18th-century date.
The redbrick wall foundations and the cellar correspond closely to structures depicted on the 1825 lease map and are likely to be of 18th-century date.
A large circular feature was discovered in the north-west corner of the development area, to the rear of No. 70 Thomas Street. It consists of a large flat-based, vertical-sided pit rendered with cement, measuring 3.1m in diameter and with a depth of 0.3m. Remaining in situ at the base and covering its full surface area were two semi-circular 10mm-thick steel plates. One of these halves had some sort of housing welded to it, presumably for some sort of rotating mechanism. This feature is likely to be of later 19th-century date and is likely to be a vat of some kind, potentially relating to John Keane’s soap and candle works active onsite in the 1860s.
While some elements of the post-medieval walls and structures were reduced in order to facilitate the development, the medieval features, deposits and structures were preserved in situ beneath the development.
c/o IAC Archaeology Ltd, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
