County: Dublin Site name: Belgard Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin 24
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 17E0489
Author: Niall Colfer, Archaeology and Built Heritage
Site type: Post-medieval - World War I aerodrome
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 708555m, N 728067m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.291777, -6.371737
Testing was undertaken to accompany a pre-planning application in advance of residential development in proximity to the early ecclesiastical centre of Tallaght. The proposed 16.15 acre development site is located on the western side of Belgard Road (R113), Tallaght, Dublin 24. Currently in use as industrial and office facilities, it is bound by Belgard Retail Park to the north, and Belgard Square North to the south.
There was scant evidence of archaeological structures or deposits on the site. The tested area was heavily disturbed by late post-medieval and twentieth-century activity, especially in the southern half of the site where topsoil removal and the raising of ground level with rubbish fill was widely evident. No diagnostic evidence was retrieved to suggest the curvilinear feature delineating Glebe lands and depicted on the OS mapping, was of a medieval, or earlier, date.
There were also no indicators of occupation, such as pits or post-holes, recorded within the curvilinear boundary, of which the base of its ditch was the sole remaining feature. Possible prehistoric activity was suggested by a small burnt charcoal and ash spread in the centre of the tested area, although the amount of soil removal and disturbance on the site would indicate the chance of further evidence of this type surviving is negligible.
The walls uncovered in the south-east of the tested area are likely to represent the only surviving evidence of the Tallaght Aerodrome, as the majority of the buildings associated with the World War 1 complex would have been removed during the construction of the factories on the eastern side of the site as a whole. The aerodrome was of a significant size and consisted of six large aeroplane sheds along with an Officer’s Mess, Regimental
Institute, Reception Station, Women’s Hostel and an aeroplane repair shed. It is likely the uncovered walls were associated with the Officer’s Mess in the southern half of the aerodrome complex.
Spade Enterprise Centre, St. Paul’s Smithfield, North King Street, Dublin 7
