2010:279 - Con Colbert Road/Memorial Park, Islandbridge, Dublin

An assessment took place, fronting on to the north side of the Con Colbert Road, to the south-east of the Irish National War Memorial Park, at Islandbridge, Dublin 8. The site lies 90m to the east of DU018–020–272, which marks the position of the Viking burials found during railway works in the 19th century. The testing, which was carried out as part of the Dart Underground investigations, consisted of a series of linear test-trenches, which were opened up over a proposed ventilation/intervention shaft in April 2010. The area had been previously tested in 1989 by both Patrick Healy and Elizabeth O’Brien (Excavations 1989, Nos 25 and 26).
The assessment established that the ground had been very disturbed in the late 1980s along the southern end of the site, where it fronted on to the Con Colbert Road. Parts of the site had been stripped previously, during the earlier archaeological investigations, and this was most marked on the eastern side of the site, where the ground was almost down to the natural deposits. The assessment confirmed that the site is located on the remains of a truncated gravel esker, which was quarried in the 19th century but which also contained undisturbed bands of natural boulder clay in places. While evidence of possible early medieval activity was identified in the form of four pits, which could not be dated, this evidence was limited and there was no evidence of any human burials or human bone on-site, despite intensive testing. The post-medieval deposits were also extremely limited, confined to several pits, and one very poor cobbled surface.