2007:499 - DUBLIN: Lord’s Walk/Chesterfield Avenue, Phoenix Park, Dublin

Testing was carried out at Lord’s Walk/Chesterfield Avenue, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8, in October 2007. Phoenix Park is designated as a zone of archaeological potential. The testing was not carried out in advance of development at the site. The purpose of the testing was to ascertain the nature of three earthen mounds (Mounds 1–3) located at the edge of Chesterfield Avenue and in particular to assess whether evidence of the complex tree-planting pattern depicted on the first-edition OS map (1837) could be found. The objective of the testing was to facilitate the possible reconstruction of this planting pattern.

Three trenches were opened, each taking a quadrant of a mound. A stone-filled drain and a post-medieval metalled surface, possibly representing the original surface of Chesterfield Avenue, were uncovered in Trench 1. Evidence for tree-planting activity was found in Trench 2; however, no definite planting pattern could be discerned. Nothing further of archaeological significance was found.