2007:485 - DUBLIN: 77 Leeson Street Lower, Dublin

A small testing/monitoring programme took place at the site of a proposed development at No. 77 Leeson Street Lower and No. 17 Pembroke Street Upper. The two buildings forming the corner site are protected structures. The majority of subsurface groundworks (in the form of piling) required for the development has already been carried out under the original planning permission (which made no mention of archaeological requirements), and the only remaining subsurface work proposed concerned an excavation to the rear of No. 77 Leeson Street Lower at basement level for the insertion of a drain.

The trench was excavated by hand and mostly revealed a disturbed stratigraphy, except where modern material overlay a compact yellow sterile natural boulder clay at 0.35m below the basement slab. The red-brick foundations of the curving masonry staircase leading from the basement level of the backyard to the street level were exposed but not impacted upon. No archaeological material was found in the trench.