County: Dublin Site name: DUBLIN: St Vincent de Paul Hostel, Nicholas Street/Back Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0005
Author: Margaret Gowen, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin.
Site type: Building
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 715032m, N 733822m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.342111, -6.272544
Three test-pits were opened on a small portion of the St Vincent de Paul facility site at the junction of Nicholas Street and Back Lane, Dublin 8. The development sought to refurbish an existing two-storey building on Back Lane with a lean-to extension and to provide a two-storey extension to Nicholas Street on its eastern side.
Two pits were opened on 9 February 2001 by a ‘mini’ excavator. Each was excavated to a depth of 1.8m. The first pit had to be slightly relocated from its planned position and a third proposed pit was abandoned owing to the presence of a live service duct running along the inside of the Nicholas Street boundary wall.
The excavation revealed that there is a layer of former demolition rubble infilling old basements across the development area and that the rubble had a minimum depth of 1.5m and a maximum depth of over 1.8m.
The piled foundation design focused on keeping all formation levels and services above archaeological deposits. Subsequent monitoring of substructure construction established that no archaeological levels were breached.
