St Anne's Park Community Archaeology Programme
This annual programme of events is uncovering the history of St Anne's Park through community excavations. Learn about our recent archaeological finds.
The St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme launched in 2021 and has established the park as a city hub by connecting local people with archaeology, heritage and social history. Through a range of different events, the programme provides training for students and allows local communities to gain hands on experience of archaeological techniques.
This is a joint project run by the Planning, Property and Economic Development Department (Heritage and Archaeology Sections) and Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services. The programme has received grants from the Heritage Council and Creative Ireland every year since 2021.
If you would like to volunteer on the community excavation, contact us at [email protected]
Events Programme
The St Anne's Community Archaeology Programme has evolved every year, bringing new speakers, events and programming to the park. The yearly programme usually includes:
-
A programme launch at the Rose Festival featuring exhibitions, artefact displays, and walking tours introducing the history of the park and previous discoveries.
-
A community excavation typically beginning during Heritage Week, where volunteers work alongside professional archaeologists to uncover and record the remains of St Anne’s Mansion House.
-
Educational programmes including activities for primary, secondary, and Transition Year students, offering hands-on and curriculum-linked learning experiences.
-
Public engagement activities such as guided tours, talks, demonstrations, and exhibitions running alongside the excavation.
-
“Finds Fridays” allows volunteers to clean, record, and catalogue artefacts, completing the full archaeological process.
-
An archaeological report is produced every year recording any artefacts or finds from the programme. You can download these documents below.
Why St Anne's Park?
St Anne’s Park is Dublin’s second largest public park and sits on the northern edge of Dublin Bay, between Clontarf and Raheny. Before it became a public space, the park was part of a 202 hectare estate owned by members of the Guinness family. The park provides a unique opportunity to explore and excavate the remains of the historic Guinness family mansion, allowing members of the public to uncover its architectural features and rich heritage.
The park was once home to a grand mansion called Thornhill, built in 1814. In 1835, two grandsons of Sir Arthur Guinness, Benjamin Lee Guinness and Arthur Lee Guinness, took over the property and turned it into a large Italianate-style residence. They renamed the building St Anne’s, after the nearby holy well. Lord and Lady Ardilaun (Arthur Edward Guinness and Olivia Charlotte Guinness) remodelled the house again in the 1870s.
Bishop Plunket, the nephew of Lord and Lady Ardilaun, was next to inherit the estate. He sold the house to Dublin Corporation for £55,000 in 1939. Dublin Corporation then used the house to store Defence Forces equipment during ‘The Emergency’.
On Christmas Eve 1943, a fire broke out and the building was destroyed. Any remaining structures were demolished in 1968. The remains of the house lay untouched under a mound at the end of the avenue in St Anne’s until 2021, when the programme set out to uncover what remained. The Guinness family also built a series of follies around the estate which can be seen today. They include the Herculanean Temple, the Bridge and Hermitage, the Rockeries, and the Roman Tower (which originally formed part of St Anne’s House).
Floor plan of St Anne's Park House.
Photograph of St Anne's Park House before it was burned down.
2025
In 2025 St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme received the Archaeological Achievement Award for Public Dissemination or Presentation. This distinguished award honours exceptional creativity, accessibility, and innovation in sharing archaeology with the public across Ireland and the UK. Read the press release below:
Dublin City Council is proud to announce that the St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme has received the Archaeological Achievement Award for Public Dissemination or Presentation at a ceremony held on Friday, 28 November, in Belfast. This distinguished award honours exceptional creativity, accessibility, and innovation in sharing archaeology with the public across Ireland and the UK.
Lord Mayor of Dublin Councillor Ray McAdam congratulated the recipients saying, "This award is a remarkable achievement and a testament to the dedication, creativity, and community spirit at the heart of the St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme. I had the privilege of visiting the excavation in September on the final day of the Transition Year students’ involvement and was deeply impressed by their work. The project has opened archaeology to people of all ages and backgrounds, fostering curiosity, participation, and pride in our shared heritage. I warmly congratulate everyone involved, the volunteers, students, professional archaeologists, and Dublin City Council teams ,on receiving this well-deserved recognition.”
The Archaeological Achievement Awards celebrate excellence in archaeological practice and public engagement, spotlighting projects that foster community involvement, enhance public understanding, and promote sustainable approaches to heritage. The St Anne’s Park programme was recognised for its outstanding dissemination of archaeological knowledge through diverse formats, its accessibility to broad audiences, and its pioneering collaborative model.
The St Anne’s Park Community Archaeology Programme is a collaborative initiative led by Dublin City Council’s Planning, Property and Economic Development Department (Heritage & Archaeology) and Parks, Biodiversity and Landscape Services, with annual support from the Heritage Council and the Creative Ireland Programme. Delivered by Archaeology and Built Heritage Ltd on behalf of Dublin City Council, the project is a key action of the Dublin City Strategic Heritage Plan 2024–2029.
Since its launch in 2021, the programme has connected thousands of people with the rich archaeological, designed landscape, and social history of St Anne’s Park. Its extensive outreach includes living history performances, lectures, experimental archaeology events, exhibitions, public talks, community training, and a popular schools programme.
The ongoing community excavation, which began in 2023 and takes place annually in late August and September, invites local volunteers to work alongside professional archaeologists to uncover the remains of the former St Anne’s mansion built by the Guinness family. The site has become a dynamic open-air classroom and a focal point of public interest: in 2025 alone, over 4,000 visitors attended the excavation, many specifically to view the archaeological remains. To date, volunteers have contributed 714 volunteer days, alongside the Transition Year Tuesdays initiative, which has welcomed 21 students since its introduction.
2024
In 2024 the programme expanded with the biggest excavation so far, lasting five weeks, and the introduction of an education programme for Transition Year students. The launch saw 1500 visitors and included an exhibition, artefacts on display and opportunities for the public to meet and chat with Archaeology and Built Heritage archaeologists. 900 artefacts were discovered and the programme saw 11,610 visitors (excluding school groups).
Press included:
- Excavation Director James Kyle interviewed on the Amplify Archaeology Podcast
- an Archaeology Ireland article
- articles in several national papers (including the Irish Times and the Irish Independent)
- a video captured by Arcade Film
Exhibition Panels
During the 2024 programme, a series of exhibition panels were placed on site at St Anne's Park to provide information to the public. They include information about St Anne's House, its history and the community excavation project. They also include a timeline and a range of photographs. They can be downloaded below in English or Irish.
2023
This year the community excavation grew to four weeks. Amongst artefacts recovered during the dig were fragments of stained window glass and tiles, lead window tracery, post-medieval ceramics, gas masks and elements of tents from its time as a storage facility for the Defence Forces during the Second World War.
Excavation Director James Kyle delivered two lectures on the programme, one to the Trinity College Dublin Archaeological Society in November 2023, and one to the general public in Raheny Library in December 2023.
Rose Festival activities included an exhibition stall with four A0 panels designed in collaboration with designer Paul Bokslag which detailed the history and development of the park and mansion house. The exhibition was complemented by an expanded immersive theatre experience in the walled garden by Mrs Baker’s Medway Theatre Company.
The results of the excavation inspired local artist Barry McAdam (Naniken Studios) to create a hand built 3D model of the house, which he superimposed on a drone photograph of the park (see the gallery below).
2022
In 2022, the programme included a series of public outreach events, an educational programme for primary and secondary schools and a pilot five day community excavation.
An immersive theatre tour of the walled garden by Mrs Baker’s Medway Theatre Company allowed the audience to meet and interact with former residents Lord and Lady Ardilaun and their Scottish gardener Andrew Campbell as they planned major improvements to the St Anne’s estate.
The Pallasboy Project provided an experimental archaeology wood working display to carve a replica of the Ralaghan Figure from Co. Cavan.
2021
The programme launched in 2021, navigating COVID-19 safety measures. It included:
- A series of living history days facilitated by Claíomh involved living history practitioners in period costume sharing artefacts and bringing them to life with demonstrations and short talks.
- Monthly Schools Day for primary and secondary schools. Pupils took part partake in The Big Dig by the School of Irish Archaeology (SIA). The children explored a replica Viking house and took part in a workshop excavation.
- A Mobile Museum engaged with secondary pupils through a range of replica artefacts.
- An exhibition and walking tours of the park.
- Online events included evening lectures by expert guest speaker and an archaeology Know your Locality course.
