County: Dublin Site name: No. 8, John Dillon Street, Dublin 8
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020001 Town Defences, DU018-020 Historic Town Licence number: 20E0722
Author: Angela Wallace & Clare Ryan
Site type: Urban city defences
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 714973m, N 733830m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342193, -6.273428
Archaeological assessment and subsequent monitoring was required for refurbishment works at No. 8 John Dillon Street, Dublin 8. The site is located on the south-eastern side of John Dillon Street and consisted of a late nineteenth-century red-brick mid-terrace house with a single-level extension, of much later date, to the rear. The site is located within the zone of DU018-020 Historic Town and in the immediate vicinity of the line of the town defences DU018-020001.
The development of this site involved the demolition of a single-storey extension at the rear of the property. This was replaced by a new two-storey extension of similar footprint size, built on a foundation of ground beams and supported by a total of 21 micro piles measuring 150mm in diameter. The overall area of the site measured 43 sqm. The boundary wall to the rear of the property was retained.
Archaeological monitoring of initial works to reduce the ground levels indicated the presence of disturbed medieval deposits and associated medieval ceramic fragments. There was significant 19th-century disturbance from the excavation of a back stairwell and two sewer trenches located at the rear of the property.
Upcast material from historic sewer works contained a significant amount of medieval and post-medieval pottery. Layers within this backyard area had to be reduced to 14.21 OD along line of ground beams. A single narrow band of yellow clay C07 was evident at a depth of 14.25-14.37m OD and was interpreted as possible in situ archaeological material. One fragment of cattle vertebra was obtained from this deposit and submitted for AMS dating. A date of 1023±28BP was returned and this was calibrated to 977-1047 (88.1%) cal. AD. The material overlying C07 was a mixture of redeposited upcast material from disturbance work by the installation of a back stairwell in the north-east area of the back yard. In the main footprint of the house floor levels were reduced to accommodate the foundation beams; the reduction was very shallow, maximum was 0.12m.
A total of 176 sherds of pottery, sixteen sherds of ridge tile and twelve sherds of floor tile were recovered during excavation; 85.5% of the ceramic assemblage was identified as medieval in date. The bulk of the sherds were identified as Leinster Cooking Ware, Dublin-type ware and Dublin-type fineware, dating mainly from the 12th-14th centuries AD.
Pier Road, Enniscrone, Co. Sligo
