County: Dublin Site name: Seamount Road, Malahide
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 19E0649 ext.
Author: Donald Murphy, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 723069m, N 745369m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.444017, -6.147420
The site is generally bounded by Seamount Road to the south, ‘Seamount Heights’ to the east/south-east, ‘Seamount Drive’, ‘Seamount Park’ and ‘Seamount Abbey’ to the west/south, ‘Oak Hall’ and ‘The Hill’ to the west, ‘Grove Lawn’ and ‘Abbots Hill’ to the north, and by the former Malahide golf links lands to the east/north-east. It was previously tested by by Donald Murphy from 3-7 October 2019 under licence 19E0649, using a 15-tonne tracked excavator. A total of 16 test trenches were excavated across the footprint of the proposed development. No archaeological features were identified and no finds were recovered.
This site has been greatly disturbed in recent decades, it is partially overgrown and has mounds of stockpiled topsoil within it, as is evident from both aerial imagery and the site inspection. As a result, some areas could not be tested due to large mounds of soil and the presence of services. Furthermore, the north-eastern adjacent part of the proposed development is owned by Fingal County Council and could not be tested. Where it was possible to test, the investigation exposed no archaeological features, structures or deposits.
As a result of the aforementioned constraints and the fact that the landscape area in general has some potential to contain unrecorded sub-surface features or deposits of an archaeological nature, archaeological monitoring of topsoil stripping was subsequently carried out during the construction phase of the proposed development. This was carried out in November 2020. No features of archaeological significance were identified and no finds were recovered.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth
