County: Dublin Site name: Whitechurch
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 18E0099
Author: Deirdre Murphy
Site type: Non-archaeological
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 714560m, N 726375m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.275314, -6.282318
An archaeological assessment (test trenching) was carried out on 30 April 2018 at the site of a proposed housing development at Whitechurch Lodge, Whitechurch Road, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16. The site lies within close proximity to DU022:030, the Ecclesiastical Remains of the Whitechurch and its associated graveyard. The site also contains a protected structure, listed within the South Dublin County Development Plan 2010-2016 as Whitechurch Lodge, Protected Structure No. 338 and is located within the original gardens/grounds of Whitechurch Lodge. Cartographical sources dating from 1837, 1869 and 1907–09 show the site as a small parkland-style garden enclosed by trees with a network of interconnecting garden paths. Cartographic evidence also clearly indicates that between 1837 and sometime after 1907-09 the water course that passes through the grounds of Whitechurch Lodge has been diverted on at least two occasions. These alterations to the route of the water course may have been carried out as part of the water management system associated with the upstream Laundry Mill marked on the First Edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map of 1837 or the downstream Silk Mill.
Six trenches were excavated within the development site in the footprint of proposed houses, gardens and access driveways. Test trenching failed to identify any features or deposits of an archaeological nature.
Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit, Unit 21 Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth
