County: Dublin Site name: Twilfit House, Abbey Street, Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 20E0597
Author: Aisling Collins
Site type: URBAN
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715398m, N 734493m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.348056, -6.266807
Archaeological testing was carried out at the site of Twilfit house at Nos 137-140 Abbey Street, 57-60 Jervis Street and 1 Wolfe Tone Park, Dublin 1 in November 2021 in advance of the construction of a new hotel. The testing was limited to the northern part of the site in the existing basement area and in the yard area along Wolfe Tone Park.
The southern area of the site could not be tested (Abbey Street) as the ground floor level of the Twilfit House was occupied by the National Leprechaun Museum.
The site lies within the zone of archaeological constraint for recorded monuments in Dublin city (DU018-20) and within the grounds and precinct walls of the medieval Abbey of St Mary. The site of the abbey complex is located approximately 174m to the west of Twilfit house at 25-31 Arran Street. In 2021-22, archaeological excavations carried out at this site revealed the substantial remains of walls and a significant number of human burials associated with the abbey complex.
Testing confirmed the presence of mixed clay and organic deposits up to 1m in depth below the existing basement floor level. The upper levels of these deposits contained sherds of 17/18th-century pottery, animal bones and cockle shells. No medieval artefacts, or structural remains were present in any of the test trenches.
ACAS 45 Richmond Park, Monkstown
