County: Dublin Site name: Kilmainham Courthouse, Inchicore, Dublin 8
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 14E0337
Author: Dermot Nelis
Site type: No archaeology found
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 712635m, N 733730m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341797, -6.308557
The development area measures approximately 45m east-west x 35m and is located at Kilmainham Courthouse, which is recorded as a Protected Structure (No. 3986) in the Dublin City Development Plan 2011 – 2017. Groundworks involved mechanical excavation for the creation of a lift pit, underpinning, trenching, ducting, drainage works and manholes. Monitoring was undertaken by Dermot Nelis, with the assistance of Peter Kerins, on behalf of the Office of Public Works and took 33 days to complete.
An area measuring 2.5m east-west x 2.3m was excavated to a depth of 2.2m in the ground floor south-western corner of the courthouse. Excavation, which was for the construction of a lift pit, revealed a reinforced concrete layer sealing a modern rubble layer which in turn sealed a loose brown clay layer. Geologically deposited strata were revealed at the bottom of the lift pit.
Six machine-dug underpinning pits were excavated as part of the development works. The pits varied from 1.5m long x 1.5m wide x 1.5m deep to 2.6m long x 1.5m wide x 1.5m deep. They consisted on average of 0.4–0.8m of made ground sealing geologically deposited strata. The excavation of three underpinning pits extended into an outbuilding which had a cobble surface, with the cobbles being naturally sub-rounded and set directly on to natural subsoil.
An area measuring 9m in length east-west x 3m and up to 3m in depth was excavated for rainwater harvesting tanks in the south-east corner of the development area. Excavation revealed a series of sharply declining north to south tip lines of modern waste material. Natural subsoil was not exposed at the base of the excavation in this area.
A 40m east-west x 0.65m trench was excavated 1m north of the outbuilding located south of the courthouse. The trench measured 1.1m deep at the western end and 2m deep at the eastern end. Excavation revealed on average 0.2m of made ground sealing geologically deposited strata.
Approximately 180m in length of 0.6m-wide trenches were excavated around the site. Made ground varied from less than 0.8m deep to the north of the courthouse to 3m deep in the south-east. There were no finds which pre-dated the 19th century recovered from the made ground layer. Geologically deposited strata were exposed in all areas of trenching around the site.
No archaeological features or artefacts were revealed as a result of carrying out the monitoring.
36 Fingal Street, Dublin 8
