2025:606 - 3-5 Cardiff Lane, Dublin 2, Dublin

Archaeological excavations in the immediate vicinity have revealed the reclamation phase of the area during the mid-18th century and remains of the Marine School located to the west.

Cardiff Lane is named after the Cardiff family, who represented one of four major shipbuilding families operating in Dublin in the 18th century. Between 1803 and 1838, the street name changed from Great Clarence Street to Cardiff’s Lane. The  buildings demolished as part of the permitted development were constructed in the 1880s, although buildings are marked at this location in the 1840s. Thom’s Directory of 1883 lists Nos 2-7 Cardiff Lane as undergoing rebuilding. The 1914 Post Office Dublin Directory and Calendar notes the new owners of the site as timber merchants Richard Martin & Co., identifying the ongoing industrial usage of the area.

Archaeological excavation at Cardiff Lane identified three phases of development. A deposit of sand was recorded on site and likely interpreted as the original silting of the area following the construction of John Rogerson’s Quay. The first  phase of activities at Cardiff Lane consisted of a programme of land reclamation which took place during the mid-18th century.

Reclamation deposits formed the foundations for the first phase of construction on site. This phase (late 18th century/early 19th century in date) consisted of the  remains of a building which included a wall, a crushed red-brick surface along with a large calp limestone block floor surface installed towards the centre of the site.

The second phase of construction on site was related to a programme of expansion and subdivision of the preexisting building and consisted of the installations of several walls across the site. The building in this phase was built up on an intentionally packed redeposited material, installed to confer stability to these foundations. These structures were presumably associated with the  building **depicted  on  the  1847 OS  mapping.  Analysis  of  the  published historic sources suggests that these structures were perhaps related to a corn store. Thoms Directories  indicate  that  buildings  on  this  plot  were  in  use  as  a  corn  store  from  the publication of its first issue in 1844. The earliest edition of Thoms with a Dublin Street index is 1846. It indicates that nos. 4, 5 and 6 Cardiff Lane were the stores of corn merchant Francis  Smith in that year (Thoms, 1846, p.947).

The  third and  last  phase  of  construction  at Cardiff  Lane  consisted  of  the  remains  of  a  wall likely  related  to  the  foundation  of  the  corn  store  façade  which  fronted  Cardiff  Lane  and possibly associated with its rebuild from 1880.

Monitoring of ground reduction across the development area was carried out intermittently between  28th August  and  16th  September  2025.  The  stratigraphy  encountered  across  the site consisted of packed redeposited material mostly made of moderate dark grey silty sand with  common  crushed mortar,  red brick and  stone. Beneath  these deposits  a  mottled  clay mixed with crushed mortar and redbrick was recorded across the site.

No  additional  features  of  archaeological  potential  were  identified  during  these  works.