County: Dublin Site name: Westmoreland Street and Grafton Street and St Andrew's Church, Dublin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 13E202
Author: Antoine Giacometti and Nikolah Gilligan
Site type: Georgian cellars and other 18th century-features
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715909m, N 734017m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343668, -6.259311
Excavations were undertaken from July to October 2013 along the eastern side of Westmoreland Street, outside 108-109 Lower Grafton Street (north end), and outside St Andrew's Church, Dublin 2, as part of advance works for the LUAS Broombridge Scheme, a new LUAS line running from Stephen's Green to O’Connell Street and on to Broombridge. The Desktop Assessment for this scheme established that a number of cellars associated with both Protected Structures and structures of Architectural Heritage merit existed beneath footpaths and carriageways that would potentially be impacted by the installation of the LUAS. In order to mitigate this, the RPA requested that many of the coal cellars along the route be subject to archaeological investigation.
A total of 33 coal cellars were identified over the course of the investigations along Westmoreland and Grafton Streets, the vast majority constructed from 1800-1805. Detailed Measured Photographic Surveys (DMPS) and Final Architectural Heritage Records (FAHR) were completed for each of the cellars and submitted to the RPA. In addition, several other features were identified including historic street surfaces (19th-century limestone cobbles), evidence for a kiln clamp fire below the cellars (c. 1800), remains of an earlier (18th century-?) structure on Fleet Street, a culverted watercourse, possibly the Stein, and the remains of the 16th- or 18th-century St Andrew’s Church.
Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
