2008:487 - Shankill House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Dublin

Planning permission has been granted for the construction of eleven houses in the grounds of Shankill House, a protected structure. The site is c. 4.3ha and is some distance downslope from the Rathmichael ecclesiastic complex (DU026–050). The Down Survey map of 1656 shows nearby Shankill Castle, manor of the See of Dublin, around which was a settlement of seventeen tenements. However, the church at Rathmichael is not depicted, being ruinous at this point. Shankill Castle (DU026–052) is annotated on Rocque’s map of 1760 and lay a short distance south of the present site. A church was located at the entrance to Shankill Castle, but no trace of this remains.
Test excavation was undertaken on 19 February 2008. A series of trenches measuring 2.8m in width were opened by mechanical excavator, fitted with a wide grading bucket, and placed to cover the proposed new buildings and ancillary works. Topsoil, which is a pale yellow/brown clay silt, was in part heavily rooted and stained from tree roots, particularly to the south of the site. The topsoil measured from 0.3–0.6m in depth and progressed without a clear boundary to pale yellow/brown boulder clay, which overlay shattered stone and clay silt. Very few sherds of 19th- and 20th-century crockery were present in the topsoil. No archaeological features were uncovered in the testing.