Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd., Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin, is a professional archaeological company founded in the early 1980s. The company has carried out a number of archaeological excavations and development-led investigations arising from the requirements of development control and planning process, in line with legal provisions of the Planning and Development Acts (2000) and the National Monuments Acts (1930-2004) and Amendments Acts. The Longford Street, Little Collection is one of many site archives that have been generated through these development-led excavations.
The site was tested in 2000 and was fully excavated in 2001 in advance of the construction of a shelter and hostel by the Salvation Army. The excavation was carried out for Kavanagh Mansfieds, architects for the Salvation Army. The excavation took place on the site of a proposed Salvation Army Hostel on a property bounded by Longford Street Little to the South, Digges Lane to the east, Dawson Court to the north, and the rear of Nos. 8, 9, 9A, and 10 Aungier Street to the west. The site was most recently a car park.
The earliest phase identified on the site is possibly pre-Norman, and is characterised by a rough stone surface and curving, stepped ditch. In the late twelfth century a new north-south boundary was introduced to the site. This layout may have continued until the mid-fifteenth century. The boundary had disappeared by c.1610. The site was acquired and developed by Francis Aungier in the 1660s, as evidenced by the introduction of a series of properties fronting onto Aungier Street. In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, new properties fronted onto Longford Street Little. These merged into a single property in the twentieth century. In the twentieth century the buildings on the site were demolished and the site was used as a truck depot and car park. Finds included a fragment of a possible Hiberno-Scandinavian roof tile, sherds of Dublin-type wares, Saintonge Sgraffito, clay pipe fragments, glass bead, copper alloy disc (possibly a coin), animal bone, a nail, floor tiles, glass, a possible tuyere, fragments of Saintonge green-glazed wares and Ham Green ware, copper alloys, a fragment of a human femur, and a (fake?) porcelain tea bowl of Chenghua, of the Ming Dynasty (1465-1487).
Archival History ↴
Transferred by Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd. To Dublin City Archives, 16 October 2009
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Margaret Gowen and Company ↴
This collection contains archaeological excavation records from the site Longford Street, Litle, Dublin 2, by John O’Neill. Includes reports, licences, conservation records, notebook, feature sheets, context sheets, finds register, pottery archive, maps, correspondence, plans, drawings, x-rays and photographs.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
Collection processed and box lists created by Niamh Collins. Arranged according to document type.
Conditions of Access & Use
Access Conditions
Available to view by public who apply for research card in Dublin City Library and Archive Reading Room, 138-144 Pearse street, Dublin 2.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
The terms of the Copyright and Related Acts (2000) allows DCLA to provide photocopies of material for research purposes only. Publication by written permission from Margaret Gowen and Company only.
Creation Dates
2000-2001
Extent Medium
2 boxes, 1 outsize folder
Material Language Script
English
Finding Aids
Box list available on DCAA Database in Dublin City Library and Archive Reading Room.
Archive Web Link →
Allied Materials
Publication Note
www.excavations.ie
Descriptive Control Area
Archivist Note
Niamh Collins
Rules/Conventions
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000.