Sod-turning at DIT Grangegorman for new Central and East Quads

Rubicon Heritage staff completing excavations in the Central Quad at Grangegorman

Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd would like to congratulate both the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the Grangegorman Development Agency (GDA)on the launch of the Central and East Quads at DIT Grangegorman Campus. This launch reflects the hard work undertaken by both organisations to promote the on-going development of a centralised DIT campus at Grangegorman.

In 2013–2014 Rubicon Heritage carried out Advance Archaeological Works at the sites for both quads on behalf of GDA. These works uncovered remains relating to the 19th century institutional buildings at Grangegorman, which were fully investigated and recorded to prepare both quad sites for future construction.
Investigations at the East Quad uncovered a wing of the Richmond Penitentiary. This building was designed by Francis Johnston and constructed during the period 1812–20. It served as a Cholera Hospital during the 1832 epidemic and from 1836 as a women-only prison (the only such prison in Britain and Ireland at this time). The central section of the building is still upstanding—the Clocktower Building which is a protected structure—but the southern and northern wings of the prison are no longer extant. The southeast wing was uncovered during the works carried out by Rubicon. This showed the detailed layout of the individual cells.
Investigations at the Central Quad uncovered a substantial section of the Richmond District Asylum (constructed c. 1854). This building was an important part of the expansion of the institutions at Grangegorman in the latter half of the 19th century. Works by Rubicon Heritage uncovered most of the original north wing of the building and the eastern half of the south wing. This included the original basement located in the central block of the south wing.