Dublin City Archaeological Archive/ Iveagh Markets, Francis Street, Dublin 8 (99E0261)

Context

Creator(s): Margaret Gowen and Company

• Administrative History ↴

  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 Dry Market The dry goods section of the Iveagh Market was surveyed and excavated in September-October 1999 (Excavation Licence: 99E0261), following the exposure of limestone and brick foundations and cobbled surfaces during clearance work. The market was constructed c.1900, on the site of a disused brewery. It would appear that before the market's construction the buildings were demolished into their basement spaces and the ground was then levelled and slabbed. The site is to be redeveloped as a market in a joint venture between Dublin Corporation and a private developer. The site of the market is between the medieval Fair Green to the north and the abbey of St Francis to the south, which occupied the present-day site of the church of St Nicholas of Myra. As the overburden and demolition debris had been removed, it was initially difficult to establish stratigraphical relationships between the structures uncovered. While most of the structures can now be identified as belonging to Sweetman's Brewery, which occupied the site from 1791 until its take-over by Guinness in the 1890s, four structures fronting Francis Street were identified as being the lower ground floors of 'Dutch Billys', gable-fronted buildings that were the dominant building type in the Liberties from the late 1600s. The buildings appear to have been serviced by sewers that pre-dated their primary phases. The buildings occupied wider plots than those occupied by cobbled yards extending behind the houses to the east. This would indicate that the yards relate to earlier street-front structures that were removed when the 'Dutch Billys' were built. Eight test-trenches were excavated in order to determine the level of natural subsoil and to investigate the depth of the cast-iron columns supporting the market roof. These identified two areas where medieval deposits had not been truncated by later occupation. Two layers of cultivated medieval garden soil were evident in the one surviving earthen section along the northern boundary of the site. This material may be associated with the medieval fair green that was situated to the north of the market. A second area of garden soil in the south-eastern corner of the site sealed refuse pits that contained locally produced medieval pottery. Several areas of subsidence along the southern boundary of the site suggest the possible presence of large pits pre-dating the surviving structures. Wet Market This phase of excavations was carried out in February-March 2000 (Excavation Licence: 99E0261), and investigated the area of the medieval city ditch underneath the wet market. It was initially found that much of the area had been truncated in the 1780s by the insertion of cellars for Sweetman’s brewery. One area had, however, been occupied by a cobbled yard, and excavation proceeded below that. Underneath post-medieval dump layers, the upper fill of the ditch was located along with a length of its outer edge. The upper fills are associated with a cut that adheres to the notional line of the western edge of the city ditch. Six separate fills were recorded, yielding over 280 shards of medieval pottery, including Dublin-type coarseware dating to the last quarter of the 12th century.

• Archival History ↴

  Transferred by Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd. To Dublin City Archives, 18 September 2009

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Donation