placenamesLusk
Lusca
Excavations beside Gracedieu’s nunnery reveal lanes, drains and demolition deposits within the wider civil parish of Lusk.
The name
A reliable full-name meaning has not been established here. The recorded Irish and English forms are given without an unsupported translation.
Recorded forms
- Lusca · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lusk · English · main form
Place & story
A nunnery beyond Lusk town
The wider Lusk parish includes Gracedieu, where thirteenth-century nunnery remains stand beside a former millrace. Excavations in 1988 preceded construction of a gas pipeline west of the ruins. Margaret Gowen’s report notes documentary evidence that the religious establishment had been substantial. The investigation examined a hundred-metre corridor, revealing activity beyond the masonry still visible above ground. [2]
Cobbles and demolition deposits
Excavators found extensive cobbling and two substantial parallel walls. Seventeenth-century dumping contained building rubble, slate, pottery, wine-bottle fragments, animal bones and shells, with medieval ridge tiles among the material. Gowen interpreted this as evidence for demolition of a nearby medieval building. She cautioned that the walls’ function remained uncertain: the excavations did not establish that they formed a cloister. [2]
Water management and a lost lane
Another cobbled surface appeared to be a lane, at least six metres wide, bordered by a stone drain and a deep ditch feeding the millrace. Near the millrace itself, a mortar-bonded retaining wall and further structural traces survived. Medieval pottery came from the southern part of the excavation. These findings record the working landscape around the nunnery, including circulation, drainage and water use. [2]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Civil parish
- County
- Dublin
- Barony
- Balrothery East
- Coordinates
- 53.53971, -6.15543
- Mapped area
- 66.51 km²
- Logainm ID
- 864 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lusk. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Gracedieu,1988:17 excavation report · Margaret Gowen,Excavations.ie
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2024-06-28. How this page was prepared.