County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: The Houses of the Oireachtas, Merrion Square
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 98E0373
Author: Tim Coughlan, c/o Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd.
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 716293m, N 733737m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341072, -6.253637
Archaeological monitoring of plant excavations at the Houses of the Oireachtas, Merrion Square, Dublin 2, was carried out as part of an advance contract before the construction of an extension to the north of the existing Oireachtas building. The excavations consisted of trenches dug to facilitate the laying of a new, redirected sewer and surface water drain. The main area of excavation extended from the east side of the Oireachtas buildings to an existing culvert under the road at Merrion Square West. A second series of excavations took place at Leinster Lane, to the north of the proposed development.
In the main area of excavation an east-west trench, 140m long, was opened by mechanical excavator. The trench was 2.2m wide with a maximum depth of 4.1m. A stone wall was recorded in this trench, 0.8m below existing ground level. The wall, an earlier (mid-18th-century) boundary wall, was in line with the existing boundary wall/fence of the Oireachtas on Merrion Square West. It was 0.4m wide and the remains stood to a height of 2.3m. The section of the wall in the trench was removed to facilitate the laying of the pipes. No other deposits of archaeological significance were recorded.
The excavations at Leinster Lane consisted of a 35m-long east-west trench, with a maximum depth of 0.6m. No deposits of archaeological significance were recorded.
2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin
