County: Dublin Site name: Martello Tower, Tower Hill, Howth
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU016-002002 Licence number: C000767; E004761
Author: Paul Duffy
Site type: Monitoring
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 728804m, N 739247m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.387662, -6.063643
Monitoring of groundworks and structural repairs associated with remedial works to the recorded monument was undertaken on behalf of Fingal County Council from 12-13 October, 2016. A trench to accommodate a drainage channel was excavated and averaged 0.4m wide and 0.35m deep, following the external circumference of the tower which is c. 27m wide.
A consistent stratigraphy was encountered. This stratigraphy consisted of:
0–0.05m: Modern gravel surface
0.05–0.15m: Dark sandy silt with frequent modern rubbish (plastic bags, plastic pipe fragments, corroded iron service pipes, corroded iron objects) and 19th–20th-century ceramic.
0.15–0.35m: Light cream-coloured shell and sand deposit which was largely sterile but contained occasional modern objects including a metal battery casing indicating that this deposit had been imported and laid against the tower foundations.
Monitoring of the remedial works revealed no features of archaeological significance. Fragments of 19th–20th-century ceramic and iron service pipes were found in addition to the base of a tar/creosote -treated telecommunications pole of probable mid-20th-century date.
Unit G1, Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
