County: Dublin Site name: Lands off Brighton Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 15E0087
Author: Steven McGlade
Site type: Early medieval settlement, Bronze Age well
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 721296m, N 724889m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.260469, -6.181941
Test-trenching was carried out on a site off Brighton Road, Foxrock, Co. Dublin in May 2015. There were no known monuments in the vicinity of the site. The former line of the Bray to Dundrum connection of the Dublin and Wicklow railway lies immediately to the west of the development. A substantial granite pedestrian bridge (ITM co-ordinates 721270/724806) crossing the redundant railway line in the south-west corner of the development.
Thirty-six test-trenches were excavated across the development site. A possible burnt spread was identified to the south-east of the development site and a possible enclosure approximately 30m in diameter with a number of internal features including pits, post-holes and spreads was identified in the south-centre of the development. The northern half of the site (constituting all of Phase 1 and the north half of Phase 2) was found to have no archaeological remains.
The site was subsequently excavated in 2016 by Antoine Giacometti under the same licence number (Excavations Ref. 2016:122). The excavation revealed an early medieval house with a number of associated ditches, though these were found not to form a circuit around the structure. A large Bronze Age well was also identified to the south of the house. The burnt spread was found to be of post-medieval date, likely to relate to the nearby railway line.
Aileach Archaeology, on behalf of Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2
