Dublin
2000:0260
BLAZE’S RESTAURANT, 11 AND 12 EXCHANGE STREET LOWER, DUBLIN
Urban medieval
O144345
The site is near the corner of Essex Street West and Exchange Street Lower in Dublin 2. It is located within the 13th-century walled town but slightly to the north of the earlier (c. 1100) Viking wall. Exchange Street Lower was known as Scarlet Lane in the 13th century, when this area was reclaimed from the River Liffey. In the 17th century it was known as Blind Quay. The buildings on the site are registered as Historic Monuments because the structures reveal evidence associated with late 17th/early 18th-century Dutch Billy-type houses. The area in general is known to contain archaeological material of international importance.

Construction work took place on site without the presence of a monitoring archaeologist and against the conditions of the planning permission. As a result, it was requested by Dúchas The Heritage Service that an archaeologist be on site to assess the extent of damage on the archaeological resource through unmonitored construction activities. Archaeological fieldwork was confined to the cleaning and recording of all archaeological or potential archaeological layers, the retrieval of all finds and if possible the cross-referencing of the site in question with previously excavated sites in the immediate area.

The recording programme confirmed the presence of an archaeological dimension to the development area, with the recovery of medieval pottery sherds along with a piece of a (probably Viking) bone pin. In addition it was confirmed that groundworks, through the levelling off of vertical sections, disturbed previously in situ archaeological layers interpreted as being the relict remains of a reclaimed medieval layer derived from the River Liffey. Further disturbance of previously in situ archaeological layers occurred through the mechanical excavation of piles, three of which were shown to have truncated a layer that revealed imported as well as local medieval pottery.

Unmonitored construction activities also resulted in a hole being inserted in a structural wall located in the north-eastern part of the site. The irregularly built stone wall sealed red brick and was disturbed so as to allow a temporary drain to be constructed to remove rainwater from the site.

At the time of writing, all construction work on site has been halted pending a planning decision from Dúchas The Heritage Service and Dublin Corporation.
Dermot Nelis, Irish Archaeological Consultancy, 8 Dungar Terrace, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin.

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