County: Dublin Site name: SUTTON AND BULL ISLAND(North)
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 01E0403
Author: Stuart Elder, Eachtra Archaeological Projects
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 727808m, N 738612m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.382200, -6.078864
Excavations were carried out in two locations at the northern end of the Dublin Bay Pipeline Scheme, at Sutton. The pipe trench was excavated mechanically along the foreshore, after insertion of a coffer-dam comprising sheet piles driven into the marine sediments. Initially work began above the low-tide zone with a mechanical excavator within the coffer dam, excavating the trench to a depth of around 7–10m and piling the spoil outside of the dam for a second mechanical excavator to create a stockpile further away. As excavation of the trench was to proceed beyond the low-tide zone, the level of the ground surface within the coffer-dam had to be raised to enable the machines to continue working; this was done by laying imported hard core to a level well above the water-line, and using a larger machine with a longer reach to continue the excavation. The excavated material was then loaded into dumpers and removed to the stockpile location. Monitoring was initially carried out whilst the excavation was under way, but after moving below low-tide level it was downscaled to daily spoil-heap inspections owing to safety considerations and the fact that the excavated sediments comprised mostly imported hard core and boulder clay.
The excavation work on North Bull Island was effected by a single bulldozer and up to three mechanical excavators loading a fleet of articulated dumpers, which stockpiled the excavated beach sand close to the low-tide zone for later removal by suction dredger at high tide. Monitoring was limited to watching the bulldozer pushing material towards the excavators, and inspecting the excavated area for timbers or other artefactual material.
Several timbers were retrieved from Bull Island, including a section of ship’s keel, broken into four sections, and a couple of timbers associated with the Sutton wreck (see Excavation 2001, No. 472). Nothing of archaeological significance was noted from the coffer-dam excavations. Post-excavation work is ongoing.
Unit 2F, Dungarvan Business Park, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford
