2009:341 - CLANCY BARRACKS, SOUTH CIRCULAR ROAD, ISLANDBRIDGE, Dublin

Monitoring of excavations associated with drainage works was carried out along the western and southwestern end of the Clancy Barracks site. Works entailed the excavation of a trench c. 2m wide, 3.5m deep and 180m long. The soil profile indicated that the ground surface had been raised by the deposition of fill in post-medieval and recent times. Previous ground disturbance had also been caused by the insertion of services.
A mid-19th-century masonry basement wall was exposed on the western end of the site c. 105m to the north of the existing gateway to the site. An underground tunnel was exposed to the west of, and was almost certainly connected to, the late 19thcentury barracks building on the south-west of the site. This tunnel was located 3m south of the northwestern corner of the building and its roof was 1.1m below present ground level. It was constructed of limestone blocks and red brick bonded with mortar/early concrete. The cavity was 2.5m wide and 1.35m high and was more or less on the same level as the basement of the adjoining building. The tunnel probably extended to the road but was truncated by previous works on site.
A brick drain was uncovered at the south-western corner of the same building, where it was 1.4m below present ground level. It was constructed of red brick bonded with mortar and was capped with limestone flagstones. The drain cavity was 0.3m wide and 0.4m deep. A sherd of blackware in the fill of the cut for the drain indicates a 19th-century date. The remains of a masonry wall were exposed to the immediate north of the drain c. 0.95m below present ground level. The wall was constructed of cut limestone blocks bonded with mortar and was orientated east–west. It was 0.8m high and is probably late 19th century in date.