County: Dublin Site name: Dublin Port ABR Project, Capital Dredging, Season 2; Approach Channel and Outer Fairway
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 17E506 Ext., 17D077 Ext., 17R0196 Ext.
Author: Rex Bangerter, ADCO
Site type: Seabed
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 727030m, N 733017m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.332134, -6.092797
Archaeological Monitoring of Capital Dredge Season 2 ran over a six-month period between October 2018 and March 2019, Mini-dredge Campaign Nos. 1-3. A total of three hundred and fifty-eight (358) dredge-runs were completed as part of this dredge season. One hundred and twenty-six (126) dredge runs were completed during the first mini-dredge campaign, with one hundred and eleven (111) being completed as part of the second mini-dredge campaign. A further one hundred and twenty-one (121) dredge-runs were completed as part of Mini-Dredge Campaign 3. Dredging operations were primarily focused on the Outer Fairway and Inner Channel, but also included dredging of Berth 53 within Dublin Port itself.
Twenty-four (24) objects were recovered as part of the monitoring of the second season of capital dredging (Table 2). Sixteen (16) of these finds constitute ship-related timbers, comprising the following: nine (9) framing timbers, four (4) planking timbers, two (2) possible frames, and part of a ship’s rudder assemblage (rudder-plank and pintle hinge). Additional finds constituted both iron and wooden fastenings and other miscellaneous ship-related items. The finds assemblage represents disarticulated and isolated items on the seabed and does not relate to any additional, distinct/in situ, wreck sites within the dredged areas. The finds were removed from the dredger on completion of each campaign and are now in secure (wet) storage within the designated heritage zone in Dublin Port.
A series of post-dredge archaeological assessment dives were carried out in July 2019. This work included: an underwater assessment of the location of the Millstone Wreck and wider exclusion zone; visual inspection of ten (10) marine geophysical targets identified from the post-dredge multibeam survey; and seabed instigation at the location of a vibrocore sample that contained five (5) fragments of timber (Vibrocore Sample W3A).
No. 2, Main Street, Bennettsbridge, Co. Kilkenny
