2016:487 - Stanford House, Westminster Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, Dublin

The assessment was compiled in support of an application to Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to redevelop Stanford House and grounds for residential purposes. 8 trenches were planned and investigated.  

Trench 1 was excavated to a depth of 0.4-0.6m.  It was situated in the front garden of Stanford House, in the general area of the proposed new access road. The stratigraphy comprised a sod and topsoil layer measuring 0.3m in depth. This was a sandy silt, moderately compacted, dark brown in colour and contained occasional small and medium sized rounded stones. The underlying subsoil comprised a compact, orange/brown sandy silt with a moderate amount of small sub-rounded stones.

Trench 2 was excavated to a depth of 0.2-0.4m.  It was situated in the garden area to the south east side of Stanford House, in the general area of the proposed new access road. The stratigraphy comprised a sod and topsoil layer.

Trench 3 was excavated to a depth of 0.25-0.4m.  It was situated north-east of T.2, in the general area of the proposed new access road. The stratigraphy comprised a sod and topsoil. A modern stone culvert was noted in the south-western end of the trench. The culvert measured 3.2m (east-west) by 0.5m. It has a V-shaped profile where two flat stones (granite) were placed on each side of the drain cut and capped with another flat stone. A small pit was noted at the north-east end of the cutting, it contained the remains of a buried animal, possibly a cat or small dog.  

Trench 4 was excavated to a depth of 0.1-0.3m.  It was situated in another separate walled garden plot, just north-west of the main house and also in the general area of the proposed new access road. The stratigraphy comprised a thin sod layer 0.1m, with topsoil measuring up to 0.3m in depth. A concrete garden path, 1m in width, with concrete kerbing was exposed along the south-east end of the test trench for approx. 4.5m. It then turned north-east heading towards a red brick arched entrance in the garden wall. A large amount of modern rubbish was found dumped in this area of the site.

Trench 5 was excavated to a depth of c. 0.5m.  It was situated in the large rectangular field north-west of Stanford House. A number of moderate-sized pits were noted within the trench. These were all modern in date containing mostly plastic refuse, etc.

Trench 6 was excavated to a depth of c. 0.5m.  It was positioned in the general area of the proposed new access road leading to the front of the proposed housing development. The stratigraphy was similar to T.5. A V-shaped stone culvert was noted 23m from the north-east end of the cutting. It comprised a roughly constructed stone-lined culvert. The stone used was a light grey granite. A number of oblong-shaped pits were also noted in the cutting. These were filled with a dark brown silt and contained modern refuse.

Trench 7 was excavated to a depth of c. 0.6m.  It was located in the area of the proposed housing blocks. A V-shaped stone culvert was also noted 15m from the north-east end of the cutting. This would appear to be a continuation of the same feature noted in T.6. A number of irregular-shaped pits, small and medium in size, were also noted in the cutting. These were filled with a dark brown silt and seem to have been natural depressions filled with topsoil.

Trench 8 was excavated to a depth c. 0.6m.  It was situated close to the north-west field boundary running parallel to T.7. The stratigraphy in this cutting was very similar to the others. A number of irregular-shaped cuts were noted throughout the excavation trench including the same V-shaped stone culvert previously recorded in T.6 & T.7. The pits were filled with a dark brown silt and some contained dumped refuse including copper piping.

No features or materials of archaeological significance were identified.

Shanarc Archaeology Ltd, 39A Hebron Business Park, Hebron Rd, Kilkenny, Co Kilkenny