County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: 141–143 James's Street/Bow Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 99E0144
Author: Rosanne Meenan
Site type: Burial
Period/Dating: Undetermined
ITM: E 713726m, N 733826m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342430, -6.292141
A condition of the planning permission required a site assessment before the development, which comprised apartments with a retail element fronting onto James's Street and three townhouses on the frontage on Bow Lane along the north of the site. There is a considerable slope in ground level from James's Street down to Bow Lane to the north.
The test-trenches were laid out to test the street frontage, the Bow Lane frontage and an area of the slope.
The east-west trench along the street frontage was pulled first. It was started at the east end, 2.6m west of the wall of the adjoining building, 2.6m in from the line of the original footpath and to a depth of 1.4m. A layer, 0.4m deep, of compacted, dark grey clay was exposed. This overlay soft, slightly sandy, dark brown clay with very little stone.
In situ human long bones were exposed at 1.1m below street level in the bottom of the trench and in the section face along the south side of the trench. Other long bones and rib bones were recovered from the loose material, as were pelvis bone and vertebrae. Skull material was not observed, and it is possible that the digger had not moved sufficiently to the west to disturb skull material. These were located in the plot corresponding to 142 James's Street.
The test-trenching was abandoned at this stage. Rob Lynch of IAC Ltd undertook the full excavation of the site (see No. 211 Excavations 1999).
Roestown, Drumree, Co. Meath
