What is recorded here

Under three metres of forgotten rubble behind Thomas Street, a buried watercourse still flows beside a pit of wet, obnoxious organic decay. A timber barrel sits trapped in the stinking deposit, waiting for hands that vanished centuries ago. The tannery did not leave behind pretty objects; it left behind a smell so strong it crossed centuries to greet the excavators. Dublin does not remember cleanly. It remembers through rot, pressure and the patience of water moving beneath streets that have forgotten its name.

A total of nine trenches were excavated (license no. 95E0110) at the rear of Nos. 29-34 Thomas Street, six on the western side and three on the eastern side of the site. On the east side the trenching revealed what was possibly a small watercourse, at the northern end, beneath almost 3m of rubble. The recovery, within a grey silt deposit, of several worked planks associated with two posts may suggest some form of timber revetment, possibly oriented east-west. However, access was restricted at the side of the site and no conclusions could be drawn. To the south of the possible watercourse a deep deposit of wet organic material with an obnoxious smell possibly relates to tanning activity on the site. The remains of a timber barrel set into the organic deposit were also located, a common feature on such tanning sites. Unfortunately there were no finds from the organic deposit. The west side of the site was 1.3m lower than the east but was level with the laneway which bordered the site on the west. The trenching produced no evidence of the watercourse or the possible tanning activity located on the east side of the site. The ground was made up of a green, friable ‘garden soil’-type deposit which produced one sherd of a medieval floor-tile. (Gowen 1996, 22) Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 19 November 2014

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