2011:193 - MATER HOSPITAL, ECCLES STREET, Dublin

The site under development is located within the grounds of the Mater Hospital, Eccles Street, Dublin City, and it is proposed to construct a ramp running from Eccles Street across the existing car park to connect to an existing underground car park. The ramp will measure 72m long and 25m wide and will have a maximum depth of 4.5m. There are no recorded archaeological monuments in the immediate vicinity of the proposed works. The nearest monument is a house (DU018-023) of indeterminate date located 200m to the north-east of the proposed works.
Monitoring of these works commenced on 10 October 2011 and will continue, periodically, into early 2012. Directly underlying the old car park surface was approximately 1–1.6m of loose mixed overburden, containing large amounts of red brick and mortared stone, with frequent service trenches containing ducting cut through it. This overburden deposit, which was thickest towards the southern end of the site, clearly contained a large amount of building debris from demolished structures of 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century date. This overlay a 0.05–0.6m-thick layer of light grey-brown silty clay soil, with occasional shell fragments, which contained pottery sherds of post-medieval date. The underlying natural subsoil consisted of light brown/yellow sandy clay.
A circular well was identified at the northern end of the old car park area, which was directly overlain by the foundations of two parallel, east–west-running concrete walls. The well was not previously backfilled and still contained standing water, although no covering was found. As soon as the well was uncovered during the demolition of the concrete wall foundations, however, it immediately began to fill with collapsed debris, rendering investigation by hand hazardous. From what could be determined, the well lining appeared to be of relatively evenly coursed drystone construction within a circular cut measuring 1.6m in diameter and in excess of 2m in depth. A thin deposit of light–mid-brown silty clay soil was visible between the well cut and lining, in which occasional small fragments of red brick were visible. The top of the well was uncovered at a height of 14.6m OD. A broadly north–south-running drain of mortared red and yellow brick construction, with a slate covering, was identified, running from the north-western corner of the site, at the same height as the well surface. The drain, which was traced along the length of the site running towards Eccles Street, measured 0.56m in external width and approximately 0.6m in depth.
Monitoring of these groundworks is ongoing.

Archaeological Development Services Ltd, The Print House, 22–23 South Cumberland Street, Dublin 2