2019:373 - DUBLIN: Tara Towers, Merrion Road, Dublin

The proposed development consisted of the redevelopment of a hotel and residential development on the site of the old Tara Towers Hotel and adjacent car park on Merrion Road/Bellevue Avenue, Dublin 4

Works took place in two phases, the first in January 2019 and the second in June 2019. The monitoring of nine test pits within the northern portion of the site, in addition to a phase of monitoring of ground works, as well as the examination of a further three test pits and two additional test trenches in the southern part of the development across the Bellevue Avenue, indicated that significant disturbance had occurred on site. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted in either portion of the development. In the area to the south of Bellevue Avenue, there was no indication that graveyard DU023-053002 ever extended beyond its current western boundary. The results confirmed the presence of buildings along this boundary wall as indicated on the OS 4th ed map of the area, with possible associated basements suggested.

Across the road, the construction of the Tara Towers hotel complex, with its closely packed piles and associated ground beams, caused significant disturbance within the area. Made/disturbed ground was noted in all of the test pits and the monitoring, to lie directly on the underlying natural, which consisted of compacted glacial till at the west end of the site, but softer sand and naturally rounded cobbles to the east. There was no evidence noted anywhere on site, for pre-hotel significant archaeological strata surviving.

The monitoring of the test pits, excavation of the test trenches and monitoring of ground works all pointed to the fact that the construction of the Tara Towers Hotel in the 1970s effectively removed all previous significant archaeological deposits from the site, if they ever existed.