Gateway

The National Monuments Service's description

The precise location of a 15th century gateway possibly on Bow Lane East or in the vicinity of Bow Lane east has not been identified. This gateway site was shown on the Friends of Medieval Dublin 1978, map. Mentioned by Bradley and King 1987, 3, 197, No. 205. No visible surface remains above ground. Site of gate unknown (Clarke 2002, 22). The Dublin City Assembly Roll of 1465 recorded that the city granted the prior and convent of the Carmelite's (DU018-020049-) of Dublin the lane that went from the church of Saint Stephen's (DU018-020593-) to the church of Saint Kevin's (DU018-020078-) with the right to build a gateway at both ends of the lane (CARD 1, 321). The entry in the RMP for a gate at Bow Lane East may be a duplicate entry for Whitefriar's Gate (DU018-020039-) based on the 1465 reference from the Dublin Assembly Roll. St Kevin's Gate (DU018-020036-) is located to the E of St Kevin's Church, however this gate dates from the 13th century and is mentioned in the 1326-7 description of the city which suggests that there were two gates in the vicinity of St Kevin's Church. The 15th century reference suggests that these two gates if they were built were freestanding gates at either end of the street or laneway belonging to the Carmelite Friary.
Excavations undertaken by Mary McMahon under licence No. 95E0017 to the rear of Numbers 15-18 Aungier Street which backs onto Bow Street recorded the following details; 'Archaeological testing was undertaken on the site of a proposed new cleansing depot for Dublin Corporation. The three trenches excavated revealed that where basement/cellars occurred they extended to a maximum depth of 2.8m and overlay the natural clays. In the pockets that survived the cellar construction, ‘modern’ fill overlay natural clays. Subsequent watching brief of site clearance and subsurface work confirmed the absence of archaeologically significant stratigraphy on the site' (https://excavations.ie/report/1995/Dublin/0001904/). No gate is marked at this location on Speed's 1610 Map of Dublin or Rocque's 1756 Map of Dublin.

See attached Friends of Medieval Dublin 1978 map showing possible site of a 15th century town gate on Bow Lane East erected by the Prior of the Carmelite Friary (DU018-020049-) (Clarke 2002).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Revised by: Caimin O'Brien

Date of revised upload: 29 November 2022

References

Calendar of Ancient Records of Dublin: In the Possession of the Municipal Corporation of that City.

Clarke, H.B. 2002 Irish Historic Towns Atlas No. 11: Dublin, part I, to 1610. Royal Irish Academy. Dublin.

Speed, J. 1611-12 The theatre of the empire of Great Britaine: presenting an exact geography of the kingdomes of England, Scotland, Ireland. Atlas.2.61.1, Cambridge University Library.

Bradley, J. & King, H. (1988) Urban Archaeological Survey, Dublin, Volume 4. A report commissioned by the Office of Public works (Unpublished).

Rocque, J. 1756 An exact survey of the city and suburbs of Dublin. Available at https://libguides.ucd.ie/findingmaps/mapshistDublin Accessed on 5 January .

Clarke, H.B. 1978 Dublin c. 840 - c. 1540: the medieval town in the modern city. Dublin.