County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: Church Street/ Upper/King Street North/Stirrup Lane/Beresford Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 97E0086
Author: Dáire O'Rourke, Dublin Corporation
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 714910m, N 734693m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.349960, -6.274058
An archaeological assessment was carried out on the corner of Church Street Upper, King Street North, Stirrup Lane and Beresford Street prior to a planning application being lodged, but in the knowledge that development was likely to occur on this site.
The site is currently being used as a surface carpark and had previously been tested by Frank Ryan (Excavations 1993, 24, 93E104). A decision was taken to assess the site further owing to the presence of a human bone in Trench 3.
In the initial assessment nine trenches were excavated. The northern portion of the site revealed cellarage with natural gravels directly below. Live services were and still are located in the southern portion, the western portion and the north-eastern sector of the site, making assessment here impossible. The central portion of the site, which would have been behind the houses with cellars fronting onto North King Street, had, in the original assessment, evidence for some post-medieval soils below a level of rubble and overburden.
Three trenches were excavated by a JCB with a 1m-wide bucket. Trench A was 9m long and 1m wide. It was cut in an east-west direction, in an area not previously available for testing. No archaeological deposits were found.
Trench B was 8m long and 1m wide, and was cut in an east-west direction. About 2.5m below present ground level three fragments of disarticulated human skeletal remains and some clay pipe fragments were found. In the southern section of the trench the remains of a stone well were exposed. Natural gravels were located 3.8–4m below PGL. At this point the trench collapsed.
Trench C was 6.7m long and 1m wide, and was cut in a north-south direction. Natural gravels were located c. 3m below PGL. There were no archaeological deposits in this trench.
The results of this and the previous assessment indicate that the level of archaeological activity is confined to the south of the site. There are a number of old foundation walls, cellar walls and possible boundary walls still extant on the site. The archaeological deposits consist of post-medieval soils containing no pottery but with clay pipe stems and some disarticulated and disturbed human bone fragments.
It has been recommended that the southern portion of the site be subject to a strict monitoring condition during the ground reduction phase.
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