2017:336 - Laughanstown: Beckett Park, Dublin

Licence 15E0472 was reactivated in David McIlreavy’s name to undertake monitoring of ground works associated with the construction of Beckett Park in January 2017. Monitoring of topsoil stripping within the park (Laughanstown townland) was requested as a condition of planning (Ref.: DZ15A/0814) as recommended in the impact assessment submitted with the planning application. It follows on from a series of excavations in four areas within the park, carried out by Yvonne Whitty under a previous iteration of same licence.

The entire site was stripped of topsoil using a mechanical exactor fitted with a 2m-wide flat bucket. The topsoil consisted of a dark brown sandy clay with frequent ploughed-in organic components. It varied in depth from 0.25m in the south, increasing to c. 0.4m in the north at the junction with Mercer Road. The subsoil consisted of a mid-brown orange sandy clay with glacial erratic matter within its matrix. No features or artefacts of archaeological significance were present.

The record of an enclosure (DU026-006) was included in the RMP within the north-east corner of the park. No evidence for an enclosure was noted in previous field inspections and test trenching and it was suggested that it may relate to a landscape feature shown on the historic first edition OS map. No evidence for an enclosure was identified during topsoil stripping. It is probable that the feature identified on the historic map may represent a cattle pen or something similar, associated with the adjacent farmyard.

Two field boundaries were crossed by the access road and the small car park area adjoining to the north. Truncation of these boundaries was monitored to record their form and nature. A heavily overgrown north–south running boundary was comprised of an un-bonded stone wall, apparently created using field clearance cobbles. It had a wedge-shaped profile and survived to a height of c. 1m and width at base of c. 1.4m. Some larger field clearance boulders/glacial erratics had been placed at its base to bolster the structure and general field clearance appears to have been deposited along its eastern base.

The south-east perimeter of the park is bound by a north-east/south-west running earthen embankment. The access road was breached in places to allow access to the carpark. The bank is 3m in max. width (at base) and 2m in max. height. The northern side of the bank is partially built up with field clearance stone, although it is not formally laid. The bank was formed directly onto the subsoil level. The boundary is heavily overgrown with brambles along the top.

IAC Ltd, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Wicklow