EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Dublin
Two structures (‘E’ and ‘F’) were partially excavated at Exchange Street Upper/Parliament Street and
were dated between the mid and late tenth centuries (Gowen with Scully 1996, 16). Structure E was
destroyed by fire and was represented by a hearth, three, and possibly four, potential roof supports
and a large posthole – possibly from a door jamb – to the west of the hearth. The partial remains of
Structure F lay 2m to the west and survived as a row of paired posts (one inside and one outside the
post and wattle wall) and may resemble Wallace’s Type 1 structures. Another structure (Structure G)
extended over the first bank and was dated to the late tenth and early eleventh centuries. Partial
excavation revealed a double post and wattle wall with curved corners that was 3.5m wide. A
similarly dated building (Structure H) also only survived as a post and wattle wall and finds in this
area included metal stick pins, bone items including pins, a bone with a decorated crest, combs and a
toggle (Gowen with Scully 1996, 17–8).
Excavations at Werburgh Street to the south of the town revealed 31 structures approximately dating
to the tenth and eleventh centuries (Hayden 2002). The majority of houses were Type 1 structures
with two variations. One house had its entrance on a side wall while another was a sunken structure
(Hayden 2002, 67, 51). Similarly to excavations to the north, the houses were regularly re-built and
replaced.
Post-and-wattle rectangular houses dating to the tenth and eleventh century were revealed in Phases’
5, 8 and 9 at Dublin Castle but the full results of the excavation are yet to be published (Lynch &
Manning 1990, 67; 2001, 178).
Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries
Structures dating to the eleventh and early twelfth century consisted mainly of Wallace’s Type 1,
variations of these and a range of outbuildings and pens that equate to his Type 2 – Type 5 buildings.
For example, excavations at High Street revealed structures dating to the eleventh century and the
majority of these were small Type 1 buildings with double post-and-wattle walls (Murray 1983, 43–6).
However, improvements in carpentry methods also resulted in better-built buildings such as the rare
stave-built structure from Christchurch Place which was dated to the middle and late part of the
eleventh century. It measured 4.85m by 8m and the roof was supported on four groups of timbers.
The interior was divided into three aisles and four small corner rooms were screened off by plank
walls set into the beams. A hearth was present and water was channelled by a wooden drain under
the floor. Two doors were present; one to the south and another on the east wall (Murray 1983, 95–
9).
CRAFT
Ninth to twelfth centuries
The scale and variety of craft activities in Scandinavian Dublin increased as the town expanded from
its inception during the middle ninth century. Some of the earliest evidence included a number of
circular wattle pens within the property plots which were excavated at Temple Bar West (Simpson
1999, 25–6). They were approximately 7m in diameter and the organic deposit in one example
produced large quantities of textile and leather scraps suggesting that clothes were made and/or
mended here.
Advances and changes in carpentry techniques and building styles have been recorded in both houses
and pathways. At Christchurch Place, double post-and-wattle walls replaced single walls which were
fashionable in the late tenth century. By the mid to late eleventh century the double wall buildings
gradually made way, in rare cases, for more complex structures of stave-built and plank-and-wattle
construction (Wallace 1982). The change in pathway construction has been noted above.
Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, Winetavern Street was occupied by wood-turners and
coopers as indicated by the many lathe-turned bowls platters and staves that were found. Toy ships
were also made and one has been dated to the twelfth century (see separately Ó Ríordáin and
Wallace in Bradley 1984).
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