County: Dublin Site name: Luas Cross City Heritage Works
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020 Licence number: 13E0353, C592; E4492
Author: Aidan O'Connell
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715906m, N 733985m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.343382, -6.259367
Monitoring was undertaken as part of the Luas Cross City (LCC) Heritage Works contract for the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA). The contract was designed to identify previously unrecorded sub-surface archaeological stratigraphy which will be impacted upon by the construction of LCC. One licence, covering from Grafton Street to O’Connell Street, was provided for under the contract (Licence No. 13E0353); additional works related to the Parnell National Monument were carried out in accordance with Ministerial Consent C592 (E4492) and are detailed in a separate entry. Monitoring was undertaken at 3 locations in 2014. The base plinth of the Molly Malone statue was removed from its original location on Grafton Street. The base plinth of the Thomas Moore statue (RPS 2007) on College Street was also removed under supervision. No archaeological material was recorded in the course of these works. The proposed new location for the Molly Malone statue is located outside the entrance to the Dublin Tourism centre on Andrew Street, on lands forming St Andrew’s Church. This church marks the location of two Recorded Monuments (RMPs) comprising a 16th/17th-century church site (RMP DU018:020072) and the site of a 12th-century Religious House (RMP DU018:020047). In advance of the re-erection of the Molly Malone statue, an area measuring 3.8m x 2m x 0.72m was excavated in order to accommodate the foundation for the new plinth. The basal course of a post-medieval wall and some stone paving were recorded. The wall was 1.85m long within the excavated area and extended beyond the northern and eastern excavation limits. Two stones from the basal course survived. The remaining structure comprised a rubble foundation with red bricks observed in the fill. The partial remains of a stone-paved pathway were recorded on the western side of the trench and aligned north-north-east/south-south-west. The paving stones were laid on a bed of lime mortar. The paving and basal course of the wall were removed under supervision.
Additional works are proposed for 2015, and will be the subject of a separate entry.
8 Beat Centre, Stephenstown, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin
