County: Dublin Site name: 31-36 ORMOND QUAY UPPER/ORMOND PLACE/CHARLES STREET WEST/ORMOND SQUARE, DUBLIN
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 18:20 Licence number: 04E1206
Author: Melanie McQuade, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715095m, N 734243m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.345879, -6.271445
The excavation of four engineering trial pits was monitored in November 2004. The pits measured 2-3m by 1.5m and were excavated to a maximum of 4.2m in depth. In December 2004 the excavation of 21 environmental test-pits was monitored. They showed a consistency of deposits across the site. The upper levels comprised post-medieval building rubble. Below this, in the test-pits nearest the river, there was a substantial deposit of brown/black sandy silt moderately rich in midden/domestic waste. Sherds of post-medieval pottery, a worked timber and clay pipe stems were noted in this level. The lowest strata comprised grey sandy silt with shell, and river gravels were exposed at c. 3.8m below present ground level. 19th-century foundation remains were uncovered at the south of the site. The insertion of basements at the north of the site had caused the removal of any archaeological strata that may have existed above 1.9m OD.