2007:481 - DUBLIN: 106A–107 King Street North, Dublin

Limited test excavation was undertaken in advance of the development of a site located on the north side of North King Street, near the corner with Stoneybatter. The work was done in November 2007, prior to the demolition of existing structures on the site: a rear single-storey concrete block building behind adjacent premises on Stoneybatter (north-west corner of site); a single-storey concrete block garage (north-east of site); and a small yard adjacent to the street (south of site).

The historical and archaeological context of the development site indicates that it lies north of and just outside what was once Oxmantown Green. However, the nearest part of the green, just south across King Street, was increasingly encroached upon from the start of the 17th century. St Paul’s was constructed on a nearby part of the former commons at the end of that century.

Portions of the area between King Street and Brunswick Street, within which the present development site lies, may have been built upon from the 17th century. No evidence, however, for such building prior to the 19th century was identified in the testing.

At the front (south) part of the site, the remains of a (19th-century and later) basement, backfilled in the later 20th century, were identified during testing. It was flanked by a cobblestone alley that corresponded to late post-medieval/modern historical maps. Beneath the alleyway, sterile natural subsoil was encountered at 9.59m OD; beneath the basement, it was at 7.39m OD, indicating that any former ground surface had been severely truncated by the basement.

At the back (north) part of the site, sterile natural subsoil was encountered at a depth of 8.999m OD, beneath a sequence of 19th–20th-century yard surfaces and episodic infilling. These findings—or the relative lack thereof—are consistent with the results of other archaeological work on adjacent properties (e.g. Claire Walsh, Excavations 1997, No. 139, 97E0308).