2002:0566 - DUBLIN: Mount Argus/23–25 Sundrive Road, Dublin

An assessment was carried out on a site adjacent to three Recorded Monuments behind Sundrive Road near Harold’s Cross, Dublin 6. The site boundary encroaches on the recorded locations of a section of the River Poddle, the medieval city watercourse and weir.

In the 13th century a diversion was made from the River Dodder to the Poddle to increase the supply of water to the city. A channel was then excavated from the Poddle, known as the city watercourse. The watercourse exited the Poddle in the Tongue Field near Harold’s Cross. The Tongue was a stone pier built to control the amount of water drawn off by the city. It divided the Poddle water in two at the point where water was diverted to the city via the watercourse.
It is at the junction of these three important sites that the assessment was undertaken. Five trenches were mechanically excavated across the site. Three were adjacent to the locations of the Recorded Monuments. No related archaeological features or deposits were identified during the assessment.

The deposits recorded across the site indicated that this land had an agricultural use from the 19th century. Six plough furrows and two layers of cultivated soil containing early modern pottery were noted across the site.

However, one sherd of medieval and one of post-medieval pottery were found in the early modern deposits. This may indicate the presence of medieval or post-medieval features or deposits on or near the development site.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin