2016:121 - Magazine Fort, Phoenix Park, Dublin 8, Dublin

The 2016 phase of works at the Magazine Fort comprised documentation of stone removal, monitoring, and excavation in the Magazine Fort. It followed on from a phase of testing (refer excavations 2015:204). These works were carried out in order to facilitate the opening of selected areas of the Magazine Fort to the public in 2016 and to facilitate conservation works at damaged areas of the ramparts. The works comprised: removal of soil and vegetation over cannon emplacements and platforms in Ramparts Areas A & C and full recording; careful removal by hand of stone walkways, emplacements and platforms in Ramparts Areas A & C with stone-by-stone recording and numbering and placing into storage during conservation works; monitoring of ground reduction by c. 0.7m in Ramparts Areas A & C; hand excavation of features in Area C; hoovering and subsequent sieving of hoover bag of Magazine Stores A and C; monitoring of rubbish removal under the floor in Magazine Store A and monitoring of mechanical cobble path cleaning in selected areas of the fort.

The work clarified the two phases of rampart construction identified in the 2015 testing: a 1730s phase of narrow ramparts with brick parapet wall and no cannon or gun emplacements and corner watchtowers, and a later c. 1900 phase of wide ramparts, cannon emplacements, and cavaliers. Excavation of a drainage system in Area C demonstrated this sequence very clearly, and the drains were left in situ for public view. A clay pipe stem from one of these drains came from a soldier smoking at the cannon emplacement – which would have been firmly against the rules! This is the only fragment of clay pipe found at the fort in 2016, ironically from the same demi-bastion supposedly blown up in the early 20th century by a cigarette. The work on the magazine stores identified numerous 20th-century artefacts, including a set of 1940s magazine boxes. The suspended oak floor fitted with wooden dowels (no nails, to avoid sparks) in these buildings appears to be a rare 1730s survival, and hopefully dendrochronological dating can provide evidence for this. Each stone removed from the ramparts was individually recorded and numbered and placed in empty fort buildings for eventual reconstruction following essential conservation. A further phase of work is planned for 2017.

Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2