2003:542 - DUBLIN: James’s Street/Bow Lane, Dublin

The development site is located at the Y-junction of James’s Street and Bow Lane. Houses that were located in the apex of the junction have been demolished and a Luas line is currently being laid there. It was proposed to build a supported housing complex comprising 26 ensuite rooms, a common living area and ancillary accommodation in a five-storey structure. The protected structure of 140 James’s Street will be renovated and incorporated into the scheme.

Originally there was a slope of approximately 4m from James’s Street down to Bow Lane to the north. This ground was reduced in the recent past so that the level of the site was the same as the level on Bow Lane. Seven trenches tested the site. Trench 1, lying between No. 140 and the Luas works, produced evidence for a demolished wall footing, possibly representing an east–west back wall of one of the previously demolished houses. It was clear from section faces and baulks around the site left by the builders that a thick deposit of brown boulder clay had been removed during site clearance work, leaving exposed, very hard-packed, dark-grey/black clay. The remaining six trenches were cut through this black clay. It was difficult to excavate and came away in laminated clumps. Nothing of archaeological significance was exposed in any of the test-trenches.