2009:309 - COOK STREET, DUBLIN, Dublin

Additional site investigations took place in September 2009 along the proposed route of the DART underground within the historic city of Dublin (DU020–018). The current work was with regard to the proposed site of an intervention and ventilation shaft. The site lies to the west of the Church of Adam and Eve; within its grounds to the east is 16–17 Cook Street, excavated by Rosanne Meenan (Excavations 1992, No. 54, 92E0083).
Five, low-impact, window sample boreholes with cores 100mm in diameter were extracted across the footprint of the proposed ventilation shaft, in two north–south transects. Four of the five boreholes provided a clear profile of archaeological deposits. Fill, representing the remains of demolished post-medieval buildings, was found to be 1.6–1.8m in depth. In two of the cores the upper fill levels were underlain by a layer of stiff yellowish clay that might represent a dedicated post-medieval foundation or sub-floor surface. It, in turn, overlay a sequence of accumulated sandy and organic estuarine silts above boulder clay which was located c. 4.8m below present ground level. The profile revealed in the boreholes links well with the profile revealed in the excavations at 16–17 Cook Street. A void encountered in one borehole (No. 2) is likely to represent the remains of a well, but could also indicate the presence of a vaulted masonry structure of possible medieval date.
The site is adjacent to the sites of inns (DU018–020211), known as Burnells’ Inns, a masshouse (DU018–020465) and possibly on the site of a 19th-century inn known as Adam and Eve’s. An 83.1m-long upstanding repaired and restored section of the early city wall, a national monument, DU18–020171, lies c. 30m south of the proposed development area.