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Medieval documentary sources place the Timberyard site in the Liberty of Donore. This Liberty, located to the southwest of the walled city of Dublin, belonged to the Abbey of St. Thomas the Martyr and comprised agricultural land criss-crossed with tributaries of the Poddle waterway, on which mills and other early industries were situated. Small amounts of medieval agricultural activity were exposed to the north of the site off Atkinson’s Alley, which appears to have followed a late medieval or early post-medieval field boundary. The development of the Liberty of Donore into an urban city district occurred in the later 17th century, and was documented on the site by the laying out of Mutton Lane and Atkinson’s Alley (both of which were identified during the excavation). These roads and the mini-terraces of buildings along them appeared to have been constructed by speculative developers, who rented them out to incoming residents. The buildings off these lanes were primarily residential in nature, but small-scale industrial or craft-working activity was also found towards the rear of the building plots. The occupiers made significant alterations to their properties over the course of the 18th century, including the rebuilding of chimney stacks and installation of stoves and, unusually, building large tile-lined ovens. Changes identifiable within the material culture of the residents indicated that they were badly affected by the economic downturn of the late 18th century, and many of the buildings on Mutton Lane became tenements or ruins. As wealthier people moved out of the Liberties, heavier industries such as iron-working and brewing moved in. Buildings that had been situated in the western half of the site were demolished to make way for a large foundry complex comprising Haigh’s brass and ironworks on Ardee Street, which operated until the end of the 19th century. |
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