1998:144 - DUBLIN: Bridgefoot Street/Island Street/Bonham Street/Marshal Lane, Dublin

The site of the assessment is a proposed development site bounded by Marshal Lane, Bridgefoot Street, Island Street and Bonham Street, Dublin 8. The site is owned by Dublin Corporation and contains social housing. It was developed in the 1960s and currently consists of complexes of flats. Dublin Corporation plans to demolish some of the existing flat complexes and to develop the site further. In advance of any development work on site an archaeological assessment was conducted on 16–17 September 1998. The assessment revealed archaeological stratigraphy on the northern portion of the site. The portion of the site bounded by Marshal Lane and Bridgefoot Street is archaeologically sterile.

The site of the proposed development is within a zone of archaeological interest as outlined for Dublin in the Sites and Monuments Record for the city. SMR 18:020313 is identified as the site of a school. On the Draft Dublin City Development Plan 1998 maps two designated archaeological sites bound the site of the proposed development. List 6, Site No. 136, is the site of the school of St Thomas Aquinas, and List 6, Site No. 137, is named as the site North of the Site of the Bridge. Rocque's map of 1756 indicates the area as being a dump, and the 18th-century nomenclature of the streets in the area is testament to this, i.e. Dunghill Lane.

The site is thus one of archaeological potential. To this writer's knowledge there have been no archaeological site investigations in the immediate vicinity, the nearest being at Island Street/Watling Street, where Claire Walsh found late 18th/19th-century tanning pits, with reclaimed soils in association. Excavations carried out on Usher's Quay by Leo Swan revealed evidence of a medieval revetment.

Six trenches were excavated across the site. Archaeological stratigraphy was revealed in three of the trenches at the northern end. In Trench 3 what appears to be 'natural ground' lay c. 4m below present ground level. It is not certain if this is 'natural ground' in situ or has been redeposited. All trenches were excavated with a 1m-wide bucket of a mechanical digger.

The southern portion of the site at Marshal Lane and the southern portion of Bridgefoot Street are devoid of archaeological soils, and no further archaeological response is deemed necessary in this area.

The northern portion of the site extending from Bridgefoot Street to Island Street contains archaeological soils. In places there is c. 2.5m of archaeological deposits. No features were ascertained in the testing, but the archaeological stratigraphy appears to be a homogeneous, black, organic fill.

Dublin Corporation, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8