EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Dublin
Scandinavian warrior burial has been recorded from Bride Street (Ó Floinn 1998, 132), while
similar burials have also been identified nearby at Ship Street Great and South Great George’s
Street (Simpson 2005). This strongly indicates an early Scandinavian settlement in the area
and they may have lived alongside the natives for a number of years (possibly related to the
earliest phases at Ship Street, Bride Street and Golden Lane) before the town was established
across the River Poddle to the north.
Evidence for habitation, agriculture and industry – contemporary with the cemetery –
consisted of refuse pits, a cereal-drying kiln, a lime kiln, a mortar pit and a well (O’Donovan
2008, 53–63). The settlement evidence consisted of two pits. Charcoal from the primary fill of
one of the pits dated it to A.D. 868-1018. This refuse pit contained large quantities of animal
bone and five perforated bone pins. The other pit produced a belt buckle fragment. An L-
shaped cereal-drying kiln – dated to the tenth century – was located close to the pits and was
potentially contemporary. Several episodes of cereal drying were evident and oats dominated
the assemblage. The oats dried at the kiln were probably utilised by those in the immediate
settlement and also for the inhabitants of the enclosed town to the north. Finally, a complex
of features – including the lime kiln, mortar pit and well – were utilised for lime production
and possibly the construction of St Michael le Pole church. The well was dated to A.D. 1022-
1164 and this overlaps with the construction date for the church in the early twelfth century.
Contemporary evidence for lime production was also recorded from Phase II at Ship Street
which indicates organised and relatively large scale construction.
Excavation also occurred directly west of O’Donovan’s investigations and on the opposite side
of Chancery Lane (Walsh 2009). The earliest activity was dominated by a metalled roadway
which extended over 21m and had a maximum width of 2.35m. The road consisted of a
surface with closely set stones and was flanked by a gully on its north-west side and was
slightly sunken on its south side. The gully contained small quantities of butchered animal
bone and shell fish. Animal bone from the road was dated to A.D. 765-895 and it probably
functioned as a route-way before going out of use by the end of the ninth century (Walsh
2009, 15–9). A series of stakeholes revealed a small potential structure – 4m north-south by
2.5m east-west – with rounded corners along the west side of the road. No hearth or flooring
levels were identified but its presence may explain the occupational debris along the road and
in the gully (Walsh 2009, 20–1). Rounded corners are not typical of rectangular Irish
dwellings so this could tentatively represent a small Scandinavian Type 2 structure based on
its morphology and lack of hearth. A similarly sized and shaped structure has been recorded
from mid ninth century levels at Temple Bar West (Simpson 1999), while an early
Scandinavian presence in the area has already been discussed (above). Walsh (2009) has
linked the road to the sunken channel at Bride Street and suggests that this area was laid out
in an ordered fashion with road and plots in the middle ninth-century (Fig. 129).
The remains of four burials were associated with Phase I. Three were dated between
approximately the eighth and late ninth centuries while another was slightly later and was
dated to A.D. 777-969 (Walsh 2009, 19–21).
Phase II has been dated between the tenth and twelfth centuries and consisted of a possible
small structure, stakeholes, refuse and cess pits. Artefacts, animal bone and charcoal were
rare and the roadway had gone out of use (Walsh 2009, 21–4).
The presence of a Scandinavian group – potentially both living and burying their dead –
within or at the edges of an ecclesiastical site from the early and middle ninth century
deviates from the historical accounts of raids and bloodshed at monastic sites. The church
and round tower at St Michael le Pole has been dated to the early twelfth century while the
preceding phases indicate settlement, agriculture and industry from possibly the late seventh
century. The archaeological evidence points to natives and newcomers living and burying
their dead side-by-side prior to the construction of the stone church and tower. The annals
suggest the presence of a monastery in this area in the seventh and eighth centuries so a
wooden church may have preceded the stone building at St Michael le Pole. If this is
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