County: Dublin Site name: Diageo Digital Exchange, Rainsford Street, Dublin 8
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 18E0704
Author: Aisling Collins
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714607m, N 733792m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.341931, -6.278935
At the request of Joe Duke Construction on behalf of the commissioners of the Office of Public works monitoring was carried out of a gas pipeline running across the car park area located to the south the Digital Exchange (Phase 1) and the monitoring of the construction of an ESB substation (Phase 2) and adjacent switch room within the protected structure at Digital Exchange, Crane Street, Dublin 8. Monitoring was undertaken in fulfillment of Planning Condition No. 4 issued by The Planning Dept Dublin City Council (Application No. 2978/18 & Grant order No. PO388). The Digital exchange is located within a rectangular block of buildings which are bound by Rainsford Street to the north, Thomas Court to the east, Bellevue to the west and School Street to the south.
The site is located within the zone of archaeological potential of DU018 020 and is also in close proximity to a number of other RMP sites.
The gas pipe trench (Phase 1) was located in the car park area to the south of the digital exchange buildings on Rainsford street. The trench was orientated roughly east-west extending from the white warehouse to the gas main on Thomas Court. Monitoring revealed the remains of at least 5 stone walls, cobble surfaces and a red brick kiln. These represent the remains of buildings, yards and property boundary walls dating from the 18th to 20th centuries. Other features included modern service cables, old sewer pipes and concrete block foundations.
The monitoring of the substation foundation trench revealed the remains of 2 limestone walls, a mortar surface and garden soil deposits. The walls appeared to be part of a small building which is depicted on Rocque’s map of Dublin (dated 1756); the building may have continued on in use into the 19th century as depicted on the 1847 Ordnance Survey map.
The trenches were excavated by mini digger and where necessary by hand excavation. All works were monitored by Aisling Collins and Kevin Weldon between 21 November and 7 December 2018.
Annesley Mews, Brighton Ave., Monkstown, Co Dublin
