2019:443 - DUBLIN: 28 Frederick Street North, Dublin

A programme of archaeological test trenching was carried out at 28 Frederick Street North, Dublin 1. The site is located in the civil parish of Saint Mary’s, Dublin North City, with main access from Frederick Lane North. The building standing at the front of the property, fronting onto Frederick Street North, is listed in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (Reg. No. 50010894) and is a protected structure (Ref. No. 2977) in the Dublin City Council’s Record of Protected Structures.

Testing was carried out in advance of a proposed development involving the construction of a four-storey building containing apartments, at the request of Dublin City Council, in connection with Planning Ref.3653/18. The field work took place on 2 October 2019 using a 360-degree tracked mini-excavator.

A total of three test trenches were excavated across the footprint of the proposed development. Each trench measuring 0.9m in width and 3m in length. In general, the trenches revealed tarmac, gravel and rubble (0.2–0.3m in thickness), dark brown clay with inclusions of stone, occasional inclusions of animal bone, sherds of 19th/20th-century cream-ware and red brick, overlying a yellow–brown natural boulder clay.

The site boundary walls were also examined below ground level in the three test trenches and are likely to represent the side walls of 19th-century buildings shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1847. A foundation exposed in Trench 3 represents the south-west front wall of a building of limestone and mortar construction.

The results of the testing are consistent with the cartographic evidence, which suggests this area was not developed until the end of the 18th century and the start of the 19th century. This investigation exposed no archaeological features, structures, deposits or artefacts. Consequently, there will be no archaeological impact and no further archaeological mitigation is required.