1998:Ad2 - DUBLIN: 43/44 Clarendon Street, Dublin

Licensed monitoring of intermittent subsurface groundworks for a mixed-use development was carried out between August and December 1998 in compliance with a condition of planning permission issued by Dublin Corporation.

Two red brick, barrel-vaulted Georgian cellars were encountered under an open area behind the retained building at the front of plot No. 43. These cellars were poured with concrete to stabilise them and were also retained.

Excavation for the underpinning of the south-south-west wall of the Carmelite building at the front of plot No. 45 showed that this wall had been constructed on the remains of a stretch of earlier, pre-Georgian walling. The latter incorporates the springing for a stone-arched vault with a stone-built fireplace underneath and relates to the basement of a building that originally occupied the front of plot No. 44. The position of the fireplace suggests that the east-south-east wall of the pre-Georgian building lay under the present footpath or street. This building continued in use into Georgian times, as the fireplace was later narrowed using yellow, Georgian brick.

However, no evidence of a cellar existed underneath the building on plot No. 44, which was demolished at the start of the present development. The wall and fireplace were constructed on natural boulder till, and no archaeological strata relating to this earlier phase of activity were encountered in the course of the groundworks. The pre-Georgian stretch of walling was underpinned with concrete and retained in situ. It was further stabilised through the pouring of concrete into the fireplace opening.

Deposits removed in the course of the development consisted entirely of post-Georgian build-up and rubble infill resting on natural boulder till. Artefacts recovered were generally quite modern but included two sherds of medieval pottery and several sherds of gravel-tempered ware.

32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2