2007:491 - DUBLIN: North Wall Quay, Dublin
County: Dublin
Site name: DUBLIN: North Wall Quay
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018–020–564 and DU018–066
Licence number: 06E0926
Author: Ciara McCarthy, for Arch-Tech Ltd.
Author/Organisation Address: 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
Site type: Structure
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 717391m, N 734464m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.347360, -6.236894
A programme of monitoring is currently being carried out at the site of the Liffey Services Tunnel, North Wall Quay and York Road, Dublin. The services tunnel is located within the ‘historic city of Dublin’, DU018–020. The development involves the construction of a shaft on North Wall Quay and the use of an existing shaft on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay. A culvert extending from the southern shaft to York Road will also be constructed. Two locations have been investigated for the shaft on the North Wall Quay. Obstructions met while excavating the initial shaft meant work on that shaft had to be abandoned.
The first shaft on the North Wall Quay comprised the construction of a reception shaft, 6m in width and 25m in depth. The shaft was excavated using the caisson sinking method. A possible masonry wall was identified at a depth of 4m. It was visible within the shaft for a length of 3m and was 0.5m in width. It is possible that the wall represents the remains of an 18th-century quay wall. However, at this depth the shaft was waterlogged and inaccessible.
The excavation of the shaft was abandoned at a depth of 5m. Dublin City Council proposed a second shaft location 6m west of the initial shaft.
Construction of the second shaft commenced in October 2007. An area of 12m east–west by 8.2m was excavated to a depth of 2.2m to identify services in order to reroute them. During the course of this work, a masonry wall bonded with mortar was identified. The top of the wall was visible at a depth of 2m below the pavement. A section of fill was excavated to a depth of 3.7m below the level of the pavement to reveal the north-facing section of the wall.
The wall was oriented east–west and runs parallel to the existing quay wall at a distance of 2.8m. The wall was visible for a length of 8.2m and measured 1m in width. The wall was constructed of limestone blocks of various sizes and bonded with a lime-based mortar. The wall was faced on the inner north-facing section and rough on the outer south-facing section.