EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Dublin
and significantly, the archaeological activity at Bride Street has produced a similar sequence
of activity to that found at Ship Street which draws parallels between the two (McMahon
2002, 68).
The earliest archaeological activity at Bride Street consisted of a refuse spread which
contained charcoal, animal bone fragments, shellfish remains and two refuse pits (McMahon
2002, 71–4). One of the pits contained charred animal bone, apple pips, blackberry seeds,
hazelnut shells, shellfish, fish bones and charred grain. Post and stakeholes were present
around the pit’s edge which may have held a post-and-wattle lining. Activity ceased in Phase
I when the features were covered with boulder clay in an attempt to level the ground prior to
the second occupational phase.
Once the ground was level, Phase II witnessed much more intensive activity including the
construction of a timber structure, associated hearths and rubbish pits and a sunken channel
(McMahon 2002, 74–7). A series of post and stakeholes potentially formed the south-western
corner of a rectangular structure. The building was associated with a hearth which contained
animal and fish bone. Potential hearth debris on the south of the site contained food refuse
as did a pit which contained animal bone, fish bone and human faeces which suggests it both
functioned as a refuse and cess pit.
The initial settlement phases at Bride Street may relate to the first and second occupational
phases at Ship Street. These potentially date between the seventh and ninth centuries and
represent the earliest occupational evidence thus far discovered south of the town in this
area of Dublin (McMahon 2002, 77).
During Phase III, people were interred to the east of the site as represented by two
articulated burials, disarticulated human remains and grave cuts. Burials were not placed at
the west of the site and this was the first evidence for a division between the two sides
(McMahon 2002, 77–83). One of the burials – dated to A.D. 770-984 – was an adolescent
who was buried face down and orientated north-south. A stratigraphically later burial
returned a date of A.D. 866-1017. A layer above the burials contained a ringed pin – similar
to tenth and eleventh century examples from Dublin – animal bone and metalworking refuse.
A curved roof tile was also discovered in a sealed context above a grave cut that can be
dated to the eleventh century at the earliest. It appears that the burials discovered on the
east side of the site at Bride Street relate to St Michael le Pole church – just 100m to the east
– and the burials identified at Ship Street. They may represent the western edge of the
cemetery. The west side of the site was largely absent of features except for rubbish pits
containing animal bone and shell fragments. Roof tiles from the area indicate an eleventh
century date for this activity. The cemetery went out of use, possibly in the twelfth century,
and this part of the burial ground was covered by large quantities of organic waste which
may relate to a large garden in Bride Street known as Earl Hascald’s garden which survived
into the late medieval period (McMahon 2002, 86).
More recently, in 2005, excavations at the southern part of the ecclesiastical site on Golden
Lane/Chancery Lane revealed settlement, agriculture and industrial evidence and a further
section of the cemetery (O’Donovan 2008; Fig. 128). Phase I consisted of a series of shallow
pits in the north-eastern corner of the site that predated the cemetery. These may relate to
the earliest levels at Ship Street and Bride Street.
The second phase included 272 burials. Two hundred and sixty eight were located in a
cemetery and consisted of a dense cluster of graves in which many were placed on top of
each other. St Michael le Pole church is just 15m to the north and the burials represent the
southern portion of the cemetery. The graveyard has been provisionally dated between the
eighth and eleventh centuries (O’Donovan 2008, 45). A further four Scandinavian burials
were identified on the periphery of the cemetery between 10m and 30m away. One was
dated to A.D. 678-832 which suggests that the individual was buried here prior to A.D. 832
and the establishment of the historically recorded longphort (O’Donovan 2008, 50–3). A
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