27 Coulson Ave, Rathgar, Dublin 6. Phone (01) 4924997, (087) 2491102

ARCHAEOLOGICAL DESKTOP REPORT FOR

RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AT FORMER STEELWORKS

33, 34 AND 35 JAMES’S STREET, DUBLIN 8

APPLICANT: CHERRY CORE LTD AND JASMINE PERFECTION LTD

CLAIRE WALSH

APRIL 2020

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Table of Contents INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 3 ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ..................................................................................... 3 CARTOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 5 LATER DEVELOPMENT .......................................................................................................................... 5 RESULTS FROM LICENCED ARCHAEOLOGICAL WORKS IN VICINITY ................................................................... 6 PREDICTED IMPACT OF THE DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................... 8 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 8 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................... 9

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Introduction This archaeological desk study was commissioned by the developers of a site at the former James’s Street Steel Works, James Street, Dublin 8, to accompany an application to redevelop the site. The application is to demolish the existing industrial buildings on the site, and to construct a 3 to 10 storey build to rent development. The site has extensive frontage to James’s Street, and is bounded by a recently developed site to the east (Fountain View), by older buildings to the west and by a former laneway off Basin Lane to the south. It should be noted that all the boundaries to this site are of recent date, and no industrial material appears to remain on the site. The site is currently in use as a surface carpark. Archaeological and historical background The development site lies some distance west of the walled medieval city of Dublin, in the parish of St James. The site lies within the zone of notification for the historic city of Dublin (DU018-020), and within the zone of archaeological significance. Several sites listed on the Sites and Monuments Record maintained by National Monuments are located close by the site- these are given in Table 1, below.

SMR no. Classification Excavation Distance from site

Statutory Protection

DU018-140 Field system 30m Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP

DU018-020346

Church 45m Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP

DU018-440 House, 18th century

45m Scheduled for inclusion in the next revision of the RMP

Table 1. Archaeological sites on Sites and Monuments Map, National Monuments. Prehistoric period There are few sites of prehistoric date known within the city limits. An early Bronze Age cremation cemetery was excavated by the writer at a development site north of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham. A food vessel was recovered from one pit there, while two Pygmy vessels, one with beads, were recovered from a second pit. Some prehistoric material, which included flint scrapers and two sherds of Neolithic pottery, were uncovered from the lowest levels at a site at 36-39 James’s Street, immediately to the east of the subject site. These finds were recovered from the medieval ploughzone uncovered at that site.

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Medieval period The site lies on the south side of James’s Street, which was the main route west out of the walled medieval city of Dublin, and connects the small settlement of Kilmainham with the city. The route is considered by many to follow that of the early medieval roadway to Galway, known as the Slighe Mhor. After the Anglo- Norman conquest, the western suburb rapidly developed, probably as an impetus from the foundation of St Thomas’s Abbey in 1177, and the establishment of a liberty here. The land for St. James’s church and cemetery, which is almost facing the site on the north side of James’s Street, was donated by Henry Tirel in c. 1190, and the ‘church with appurtenances ‘was granted to St Thomas’s Abbey in c. 1196. At this time, 1196, Tirel also granted the tithe of a mill situated in the parish of St James, along with a tithe of fishing from a pond next to the mill. Close by was a small roadside cross known as St James’s Cross). Clarke (1998, 50, fig. 4) places this cross close to the junction of James’s St with Bow Lane. The cross is mentioned in 1695 thus..’ a lease.. of a parcel of ground and a lane on the right hand of the way leading from St James’s Cross to Bow Bridge….’ (CARD V1, 112). We might infer that the cross was located at the junction between the two roads to Kilmainham, which is supported by a lease of 1696 of a parcel of land called the ‘Cross acre’ which lay between the road to Bow Bridge and the road from St James’s Gate to Kilmainham (CARD V1, 149).

The setting of the church, at the western end of the parish, is considered significant by Duddy in his consideration (2003) of the expansion of the holdings of St Thomas’s Abbey. The presence of the ecclesiastic foundation at Kilmainham (on the site of the Royal Hospital) is also of significance in the western location of the parish church.

That James’s Street was settled to some degree soon after the Anglo- Norman invasion is indicated by the fact that, by the late thirteenth century, Robert de Bedford granted one ‘burgage plot’ beside the church to the Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr. A second reference, similarly dated, records a grant of half a burgage plot by a W. White in James’s Street (Gilbert 1889, 412). However, there was also open ground, which was probably under cultivation. In 1268, St. Thomas’s also received 15 acres of fields that were located close to the church (Gilbert 1889, 3). There were at least eight plots along James’s St, including the plot for the church of St James (Duddy 2003, 94). Three were contiguous in two instances, and a single plot for the church.

James’s Street appears to have retained a semi- rural character throughout the medieval period. In 1541, an ‘enclosure’ that lay next to the church of St. James and was held by William Talbot is mentioned in a lease (Griffith 1991, 88, HVIII. 143). In 1543, Dermitius Labore held a tenement and a garden (Griffith 1991, 99–100, HVIII. 165). A third reference, dated 1576, also refers to ‘gardens’ along James’s Street, which were under cultivation (Griffith 1991, 222 Eliz. 80)

Igoe (2001, 242) states that there was a fair held annually on 25th July, St James’s feast day, on a site opposite the churchyard. ‘The graves were decked with ornaments and garlands of white paper which had been fashioned into fanciful forms. There was a holy well known as St James’s Well in close proximity to St James’s Gate. The fair is mentioned in Holinshed’s Chronicles, 1577, and also described by Barnaby Rych in his New Description of Ireland 1610’.

By the mid-thirteenth century, there were ‘burgage’ plots along Thomas Street/James’s Street. Their presence on the Thomas Street/James’s Street route is an indication that the land along the roadside was divided up into organized plots. Evidence of medieval settlement at James’s St was uncovered by the writer in an excavation in 2000/2001 at the site of the Nursing School at St James’ s Hospital. Part

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of a medieval structure, interpreted as a dwelling, was recovered, along with agricultural activity. This has been dated to the early 13th century. The church gave its name to a mural tower that straddled James’s Street and was known as James’s Gate [first mentioned in 1555 although probably built 200 years earlier]. This gate stood to the east of the church, on the east side of Watling Street, some distance east of the site. The gate was as depicted on Speed’s map of Dublin, dated 1610, which does not extend as far west as the subject site. The gate appears to have been similar in type to other suburban mural gates that were built in the thirteenth century and were positioned on major routes into the city. Their main function was defence, but they were also places where tolls were collected from people entering the city. A ‘toll-house’ is listed in James’s Street in the eighteenth century and this is depicted on Rocque’s map of Dublin at the junction of St. James’s Street with Mount Brown. St James’s Gate was still standing in 1728, when it is depicted on Charles Brooking’s map of the city. However, it is not depicted on John Rocque’s map of Dublin, dated 1756. Several sites along James’s Street and to the rear have been investigated archaeologically, but survival of medieval deposits is rare, due to successive building phases from the 18th century, particularly those with deep basements from the 19th century. The results from excavations are listed below. Cartography St James’s Gate is shown on Speed’s 1610 map of Dublin, where it forms the western limit of the map. There is no detail of this area on the 1654-6 Down Survey map of the Barony of Newcastle. De Gomme’s survey of the city and suburbs of Dublin shows the site location blank, whereas the site adjacent to the east is depicted in fields. St James’s Church is shown as a slated structure with a prominent tower at the western end. Brookings map of 1728 shows the newly completed City Basin to the south- east of the site, and depicts also the limit of the city of Dublin. Excavations elsewhere in the city have shown this line to be demarcated by a ditch, probably dating from the medieval period. Later development The area became an industrial heartland, associated with brewing and distilling. A brewery is known to have existed at St James’s Gate since 1670, when the owner aquired water rights from the city of Dublin, which were passed to Sir Mark Rainsford, brewer, in 1715. The Rainsford family leased their property to Paul Espinasse, and the whole was transferred to Arthur Guinness who established his brewery here in 1759. George Roe had established a distillery at this site two years earlier (excavated by the writer at Bonham Street in 2014). The industrial landscape of the 18th century onwards is primarily that of brewing and distilling, malting and grain drying. Bleaching greens and tenter fields are also indicated on the maps. Tanning and dying were also important industries in this location. Rocque’s 1756 map has greater detail, and the level of accuracy of this map in certain parts of the city has been found to be high. The subject site has a series of dwellings of uneven width along the James’s St frontage, with a covered arch entrance into a yard. There are sizeable warehouse or industrial buildings shown in the backlands, with quite large tracts of open ground between them. The nature of these industries is not known. Rocque’s map also shows a stream or watercourse open and flowing along the southern boundary of the site. This presumably is the watercourse siphoned off for use on

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the two tanneries of later 18th-19th century excavated at 36-39 James’s St. A 19th century bell foundry was also excavated at that site. Interestingly, this part of James’s Street appears to have been associated with various levels of metal working for some time- Thoms 1862 lists variously a nailer, John Longhead, at no 37, a tinplate worker J. Harrison at no. 47, and at 48 John Buckley, a nail maker. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey has no annotation on any of the buildings on the site, although the fountain is annotated. By this period, 1848, the large warehouses of the Rocque map have been demolished and there is a considerable amount of open space to the rear of the buildings on James’s Street. Thoms’ Street Directory of 1862 lists the inhabitants of this part of James’s Street as follows: 30- Rorke, John, grocer and provision dealer 31 and 32 Tenements 321/2 Keating, Mr John 33- Blake, Ml. Jaunting car owner and news agent 34 Walsh, Mrs, dairy Notably, the site to the east lists two tanners/ curriers, operational in the mid-1 9th century. At no 35 was Richard White, tanner and currier. At 42 were Bartholomew and William Byrne, tanners. These tanneries were excavated in advance of the development, see below. The 25in map of 1909-13 shows a lot of open ground to the rear of the buildings on James’s Street, with no annotation. The Cassini map of the late 1940s-early 1950s shows large buildings over much of the rear of the site. In 1949, 30-34 James’s Street was occupied as follows:

30- Eastmans, family butchers 31, Gorman, Patrick, pawnbrokers 32, Marner, Mrs, dairy 33, Murphy, M. fuel merchant 34, Rafter, James cattle dealer and dairy Eastman’s shopfront is shown in a 1920s photograph of the fountain at James’s Street, which was constructed in 1790. Originally there was a terrace of 18th century buildings along this part of James Street, most of which appear to have been three storey over basement. The City Basin reservoir was opened to the south- west of the site in 1722. It was built on lands known as the ‘bleaching yards’, and was fed by a pipe from Rialto. It was the main supply of water to the city until the opening of Blessington Street Basin on the northern bank of the Liffey. Results from licenced archaeological works in vicinity 141-143 James’s St/ Bow Lane 99E0144 The archaeological deposits were concentrated between the surviving foundations of two 18th-century structures, Nos 141 and 142 James's Street. Four extended inhumations were laid within a roughly square grave pit measuring 2.2m x 2.2m and several other archaeological features including 0.9m of dumped post-medieval deposits overlying the natural boulder clay. Some of the dumped clay also contained fragments of what appeared to be human skull, which suggested the presence of further inhumations on the site. Excavation uncovered two phases of post-medieval industrial activity, several dumped deposits of medieval clays and an isolated burial, which brought the total number of inhumations on the site to six.

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Five young males (17-30 years) were recovered from a single grave pit measuring 2m x 2m, in the south-eastern corner of the site. A further single inhumation, a female, was discovered in the north-western part of the site. The disarticulated remains of at least a further four individuals, including those of a young child, were recovered from a number of dumped deposits across the site, suggesting the presence of more graves in the area. However, no further in situ human remains were recovered during subsequent monitoring. 126–133 James’s St 99E0660 The site is located on the west side of St James’s church. Residual remains of 18th-century and later buildings survive below the ground. The finding of post-medieval artefacts on the site establishes a late 17th-century presence for the area, although no structural evidence of such was recorded. The City Workhouse, St James’s Hospital 00E647 Four main phases of activity were recorded: Phase 1 — late 12th–early 13th-century house and contemporary features; Phase 2 — late 13th–16th-century agricultural activity; Phase 3 — later medieval roadway, resurfaced in the mid-17th century; Phase 4 — construction of the workhouse in 1703. The earliest level on the site dates from the late 12th century. This period is represented by a rectangular timber structure and probable associated corn-drier. These features were sealed by a thick deposit of agricultural soil and were cut through by the features of Phase 2. In Phase 2, cultivation soil accumulated over the central and southern part of the site. Field boundaries were dug to enclose a field, and these ditches cut through the floors of the structure of Phase 1. A metalled roadway, which was flanked on either side by ditches, formed the main feature of Phase 3. It followed and respected the alignment of the medieval field boundary, but overlay an infilled field boundary of medieval date. This road may have had its origins in Phase 2. Sherds of medieval and 17th-century pottery were recovered from the lower level of metalling. Several coins recovered from different locations along the road surface date its final usage to around 1670. There is no reason apparent for the decline of the route: the road went out of use some years prior to the building project of Phase 4. However, the various references to the land in the Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin indicate that the land was enclosed and gated, and through access was no longer granted. The Phase 4 building was initially constructed as a poorhouse for ‘sturdy beggars’ by the Corporation of Dublin. In 1728 it became the first foundling hospital in the British Isles and had a long and miserable history, becoming the South Dublin Union Workhouse prior to the Great Famine. It became St Kevin’s Institute (hospital) and was demolished in the late 1950s or early 1960s. It was a notable building of the early 18th century, and the civic pride invested in it is reflected in the illustration on the side of Brooking’s map of 1728. Robinson (also responsible for the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham) may have been its architect, but so may have been Thomas Burgh. There are several 18th/early 19th-century illustrations of the dining hall, but there are very few surviving photographs of the complex. The vaulted limestone basements beneath the dining hall were probably commenced c. 1704. The entire building plan was present on the site. It was used as a bomb shelter in the ‘Emergency’, and the poured concrete supports for the vaults are extant. The basement is retained beneath the new development. 36–39 James’s Street 01E1034 Archaeological activity on this site ranged from medieval agriculture to 18th- and 19th-century industrial. The excavated site is located just west of St James’s Gate.

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Two intersecting ditches, or field boundaries, dating from the 13th century were excavated; one north- south ditch was traced for 14m. Pottery from both ditches dated from the 13th to 16th century. There are further references to the land usage in the area of the site in the 16th century. There is no record of the development of the area in the later 16th and 17th century. Archaeological layers on this site suggest that the land continued to be cultivated to the late 17th/mid-18th, before the land was used as a tannery of at least 50 tanning pits. By the end of the 19th century the site became home to the James’s Street Bell Foundry. 93E0159, Echlin Street. Three trenches were opened by mechanical excavator. 1.50m of fill overlay subsoil. Part of the tannery (see 01E0134) extended into this site, but was not recognised as such. No further work undertaken. 01E0675, 14 Pim Street. Five trenches were opened by machine in the existing basement of a grain drying store. Up to 1.50m of infill, containing red brick, overlay silt and water ingress level. Construction was monitored, with no further finds of significance. 03E1378, 4-8 Long’s Place. Two machine trenches were opened. Modern infill overlay subsoil. 04E0743, James’s Street/ Echlin Street. A public house here since the 19th century, had no basement. Subsoil was encountered at less than 1m below street level. No archaeological remains. 08E0741, Grand Canal Harbour. A number of trenches opened by machine and subsequently recorded in detail demonstrated that features of the harbour, such as locks, harbour lining, and other, remain in very good condition beneath the backfill. The base of the canal between the harbours is floored with flat stone slabs, and had been covered with a sheet of plastic prior to backfilling. Development of this site is ongoing. Thomas St/James’s St Quality Bus Corridor, 13E0401. Well preserved street surfaces of the medieval- post-medieval period were present only 300mm below modern street level. Parts of a post- medieval tannery were excavated to the front of St James’ Parochial Hall. St James’s church. 14E0129. Limited excavation of the conversion of this 19th century structure on a medieval church site to a whiskey distillery/ visitor centre resulted in the removal of c. 200 articulated burials on the north-east side of the church to construct a boiler room. Predicted impact of the development The plans for the development consist of a series of 4 to 9-storey residential blocks. Existing subsurface remains will in all likelihood be removed as part of the development. Areas where no basement is proposed will still be subject to piling, which is intrusive. Lift shafts to the blocks will be required. Recommendations This site will be subject to the recommendations of the planning authority in relation to the historic core of Dublin City. It is anticipated that the grant of permission will include test trenching to be undertaken as soon as feasible. This can be carried out in advance of the demolition of the standing structures on the site, possibly as part of the Ground Investigation works. This initial test excavation will inform the further works to be undertaken as part of the archaeological mitigation of the site.

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Bibliography CARD Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin. 19 vols. Clarke, H.C. 2001. Dublin to 1610. Historic Towns Atlas.

Dublin Public Libraries (1988) Directory of Graveyards in the Dublin area.

Duddy, C. 2003. ‘The role of St Thomas’s abbey in the early development of Dublin’s western suburb’ in S. Duffy, ed. Medieval Dublin IV.

Gilbert, J.T. (1889) Register of St. Thomas, Dublin. London.

Griffith, Margaret, C. (1991) Calendar of Inquisitions formerly in the office of the chief remembrancer of the exchequer prepared from the MSS of the Irish Record Commission. Dublin.

Harbison, P. 1991. Pilgrimage in Ireland the Monuments and the People.

Igoe, V. 2001. Dublin Burial Grounds and Graveyards.

Lennon, C. 2009. Dublin 1610 to 1756. Historic Towns Atlas.

Mc Neill, C. 1950. Calendar of Archbishop Alen’s Register. Representative Church Body Library, Dublin. Parish Records for St James, Parish P0152.

Stalley, R. 1988. ‘Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela’ in J. Bradley (ed) Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland. Websites archaeology.ie Dublin County Archaeology Author Claire Walsh is a licensed archaeologist and director of Archaeological Projects ltd.

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Figure 1. Site location on de Gomme’s 1673 map of Dublin.

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Figure 2. Site location on Rocque’s 1756 map of Dublin.

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Figure 3. Site location on Ordnance Survey First Edition 1845-8.

Figure 4. 1920s photograph of site showing 18th century buildings.