County: Dublin Site name: CARRICKMINES MANOR, GLENAMUCK ROAD, CARRICKMINES GREAT
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 26:18 Licence number: 04E0114 EXT.
Author: Emer Dennehy, Margaret Gowen & Co. Ltd, 27 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.
Site type: Environs of cross-base
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715825m, N 734698m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.349805, -6.260310
Monitoring of all ground-disturbance works associated with the proposed development of Carrickmines Manor was requested. A portion of the development is incorporated into the zone of archaeological potential for a cross-base. The site is located 312m to the south of Carrickmines Castle (SMR 26:5). An extensive programme of testing was undertaken on site in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 478). A total of seventeen trenches were excavated at this time and no features or stratigraphy of an archaeological nature were identified.
The construction work on site is to be undertaken in three to four phases over two and a half years. Phase I of the topsoil-strip took place intermittently between September and October 2005. This phase of work concentrated on the provision of services and access roads and the excavation of floor areas to accommodate the construction of housing and apartment blocks along the northern length of the site.
The stratigraphy of the site is composed of between 0.35 and 0.5m of topsoil overlying an orange/brown silt clay with 20% inclusions of decaying granite cobbles. The underlying granite bedrock was extremely high in the north-east corner of the site, having just a 0.05m covering of topsoil at this location.
No features of an archaeological nature were identified during this phase of the development work, but three stray fragments of Dublin-type fine ware were retrieved from the topsoil.
Monitoring at this site will continue in January 2006.
