2011:188 - ANGLESEA ROAD/PEMBROKE ROAD, DUBLIN, Dublin

Monitoring took place of works associated with the upgrading of watermains in the Pembroke Road (DC000085) and Anglesea Road (DC000086) District Metered Area (DMA).
The Dublin Region Watermain Rehabilitation Project is an initiative intended to tackle the high level of water leakage from within the water distribution network. The project will seek to identify those areas of watermain infrastructure yielding the greatest sustainable water savings throughout the Greater Dublin Region (GDR). The GDR for the purposes of the project consists of the county council areas of Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire–Rathdown and parts of Kildare and Wicklow. To date, the project has recommended mains in 55 DMAs for rehabilitation.
There were several recorded monuments identified within the Pembroke Road and Anglesea Road DMA. Along the Pembroke Road DMA there were a castle site (DU018-055) on Pembroke Road and a possible bridge site (DU018-056) on Lansdowne Road. Common to both DMAs was a bridge site (DU018-059) at Ballsbridge. Within the Anglesea Road DMA there were a number of monuments, including a castle (DU018-06301) and a gatehouse (DU018-06302). This DMA was also located adjacent to two zones of archaeological potential (DU018-060 and DU022-082).
An archaeological presence was required for the monitoring of works in this DMA on occasions between April 2008 and March 2009. The works that formed part of the Pembroke Road DMA consisted of monitoring in the vicinity of the castle site (DU018-055) along Eastmoreland Place, St Mary’s Road and in proximity to the bridge (DU018-059) in Ballsbridge. Monitoring was also undertaken along Anglesea Road, Dodder View and Pembroke Road owing to their proximity to recorded monuments or to the employment of an open-cut, and sometimes a new-lay, technique in the rehabilitation of the watermains in these areas.
The process of rehabilitation involved either the exposure of the existing watermain or the excavation of a new trench for a new pipe (new-lay). This was generally carried out with the use of a mechanical excavator of either JCB type or a smaller ‘mini-digger’ type. Where necessary, some of the trenches were also excavated by hand.
Following the removal of the upper surface of tarmac, concrete or paving slabs, the underlying hardcore/sand was removed. This material overlay the natural subsoil, with no evidence of subsoil-cut archaeological features. These trenches measured approximately 0.5m in width and ranged from approximately 0.6m to 1m in depth. In some cases larger areas were opened to expose the junction between a number of watermains. Neither material nor features of an archaeological nature were exposed during the excavation of these trenches.
No archaeological features, deposits or artefacts were revealed during the archaeological monitoring of these groundworks.

Editor’s note: This summary was not received in time for inclusion in the bulletin for 2009.

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