2018:820 - HUNTSTOWN, Dublin

Archaeological monitoring was carried out in advance of the construction of a wastewater treatment plant associated with the development of a Bioenergy Plant (FW13A/0089) at Huntstown, Finglas. The site had been previously entirely stripped of topsoil as part of a program of works associated with the construction of an existing power plant just north of this location. Construction of the power plant was completed in 2007. The area of the wastewater treatment plant and associated tank farm was covered in 200-400mm of compacted Clause 804-type material, which had been placed on top of a geotextile membrane. The hardcore in turn had been tarred over. The removal of the Clause 804-type material and the geotextile by mechanical excavator was monitored. No topsoil was present beneath the geotextile layer, which had been placed directly on top of the mid to dark yellowy-brown silty clay glacial till subsoil. From examining the surrounding landscape, an estimated 0.3-0.45m of topsoil and perhaps 0.1-0.2m of the subsoil had also been removed. This would have truncated any shallow archaeological deposits which may have been present on site but no deeper archaeological features were noted during the current phase of works, suggesting that there were no archaeological features present previously on site.