County: Dublin Site name: 25 PARNELL ROAD, Harold's Cross
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 03E0939
Author: Emmet Stafford, Stafford McLoughlin Archaeology
Site type: Watercourse
Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)
ITM: E 714559m, N 732444m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.329833, -6.280139
Monitoring of groundworks associated with there development of a Shell service station was undertaken on various dates between 30 June and 14 July 2003.
The modern Poddle now follows a subterranean route under Dublin city to its confluence with the Liffey. A manhole situated towards the eastern limit of the development site accesses a swiftly flowing watercourse at a depth of at least 5m. This watercourse would appear to be the culverted River Poddle and is situated at a depth great enough to flow beneath the nearby Grand Canal.
Bulk excavation was undertaken over an area of approximately 10m by 10m and extended to a depth of approximately 3.5m below existing ground level.
The stratigraphy uncovered consisted of up to 0.2m of modern concrete surface, which overlay a further 0.2m of hardcore and chipped stone. The modernmade ground overlay a maximum depth of 1.1m of compact, apparently undisturbed, orangey-brown, sandy clay subsoil. Due to the disturbance caused by the installation and removal of the earlier fuel tanks, it was not possible to discern whether the orange subsoil represented an in situ glacial drift or whether it was a substantial sterile upcast from the excavation of the Grand Canal immediately to the south.
No features of archaeological potential were uncovered during the monitoring exercise.
Unit 4, Enniscorthy Enterprise Centre, Milehouse Road, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford
