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 archaeological excavation at this site began on 12 September 2006 and ended on 22 December 2006. The excavation was undertaken prior to the redevelopment of the Assay Office, a former military building located just inside the Ship Street Gate of Dublin Castle.
The building has been used by the Company of Goldsmiths of Dublin since 1925 and the archaeological work was undertaken prior to the conservation and extension of the structure. The work resulted in the hand excavation of the basement spaces under the building and a separate exterior area to the west, down to the formation level of the new build. The excavation site lay just to the south of the river Poddle as it effectively formed the moat of the Castle; the Birmingham Tower; the south-western corner of the medieval castle was located just to the northeast. Structural evidence was recorded for amongst other things the medieval reclamation and cultivation of the area, a medieval channel or trench running parallel to the Poddle, a later property division over the channel and an eighteenth-century brick latrine. Evidence for the formation level of Buckridge's Court was recorded along with other structural fragments pre-dating the military
development of the site c.1808. The artefactual assemblage consisted mostly of pottery spanning the medieval and post medieval periods, several fragments of ceramic floor tiles and various metal objects.
Archival History ↴
Transferred by Margaret Gowen and Co. Ltd. To Dublin City Archives, 25 September 2009
Immediate Source Acquisition ↴
Donation
Content & Structure
Scope & Content: Margaret Gowen and Company ↴
The collection contains archaeological excavation records from the site Assay Office, Dublin Castle, licence 06E0530, directed by archaeologist Franc Myles
of Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd. Includes feature sheets, sample sheets, section register, plan register, feature register, sample register, small finds register,
drawing register, pottery register, final report, specialist reports, administrative material (correspondence, minutes of meetings etc), site notebooks,conservation records, site matrixes, technical drawings, photographs, maps, drawings and plans.
Appraisal Destruction ↴
Permanent Retention
Arrangement ↴
Collection processed and box lists created by Paul Brett. 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
2006
Extent Medium
3 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
Paul Brett
Rules/Conventions
ISAD(G): General International Standard Archival Description, 2nd ed. Ottawa: International Council on Archives, 2000.
