County: Dublin Site name: 74 Eccles Street, Dublin 7
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 14E0182
Author: Gill McLoughlin
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 715508m, N 735566m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.357670, -6.264765
Monitoring took place at 74 Eccles Street, Dublin 7 in advance of a proposed medical and residential conversion development. These works were carried out for Lawrence and Long Architects on behalf of Earlsfort Health and Earlsfort Dermatology Ltd. (Planning Ref. 3452/12, An Bord Pleanala Ref. PL29N.242060). The building is listed in the Record of Protected Structures (RPS Ref. 2471) in the Dublin City Development Plan 2011-2016.
The development included a rear return and pit for a lift which required excavation of the footprint to a depth of c. 2m to meet the level of the lower ground floor of the existing house. Monitoring was also carried out for a number of pits excavated in order to facilitate the underpinning of the boundary wall. Monitoring commenced on 20 November 2014 and was completed on 11 December 2014. No features or deposits of archaeological interest were identified and no finds predating the 18th/19th century were recovered from the site.
The natural subsoil on the site comprised yellow silty clay which was present at 1.3m below ground level and there were three distinct layers overlying the natural subsoil. The uppermost layer was very disturbed and contained many modern inclusions. Below that a light yellow brown soil between 0.5-0.9m depth contained no notable inclusions and is likely to have been brought in to raise the level of the garden. Between 0.9–1.3m depth there was a layer of garden soils overlying natural subsoil. This layer contained cinders, ash, charcoal, mortar, animal bone, clay pipe bowl and stem fragments, occasional glass and red brick fragments. There are no stamps or decoration present on the clay pipe bowls, however they are thought, based on typological comparisons, to date to the early part of the 18th century, indicating that this deposit may slightly predate the building/occupation of the house at 74 Eccles Street. Alternatively this deposit may have been brought in from elsewhere and dumped at the site.
Courtney Deery Heritage Consultancy, Lynwood House, Ballinteer Road, Dublin 16
