County: Dublin Site name: Abbey Street Middle/Liffey Street Upper, Dublin 1
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-020497 Licence number: 18E0020
Author: Muireann Ni Cheallachain & Paul Duffy
Site type: Post-medieval walls
Period/Dating: Post Medieval (AD 1600-AD 1750)
ITM: E 715621m, N 734534m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.348375, -6.263445
Archaeological monitoring of groundworks was carried out on an intermittent basis between November 2019 and January 2020, according to the contractor’s programme of groundworks. This followed on from archaeological test trenching in 2017, which identified a possible post-medieval surface beneath the basement levels and deep 18th-19th-century reclamation/demolition or levelling deposits in ‘Hotel Yard’, the only excavated area outside of the modern basement.
Monitoring involved observing the breaking and removal of an extensive concrete basement that covered the majority of the site. The cellars along the southern façade of the site were backfilled and retained in situ – this included the location of DU018- 020497. Beneath the concrete basement floor, some mixed debris of 18th-19th-century date was observed impressed into the underlying natural gravels and water-rolled cobbles.
Along a narrow area of the site immediately to the east of the basement and beneath what was formerly Hotel Yard, some stratigraphy onsite was intact. This comprised 19th- and 20th-century demolition and levelling layers, an imported clay of probably 18th-century date, a calp wall of 18th-19th-century date and a possible original clay layer that was devoid of artefacts. A large Victorian ceramic sewer pipe had been inserted into this material, running along the lane, and further disturbance had been caused by the running of modern services along the same route.
Excavation in the north-west corner exposed a stone wall extending beyond the old building line. A portion of wall at the Abbey Street boundary has what appears to be a remnant of a tramrail line on top.
No further features, deposits or structures of archaeological significance were identified across the remainder of the development area. Based on the results of archaeological monitoring, no further archaeological mitigation is deemed necessary.
c/o IAC Archaeology, Unit G1 Network Enterprise Park, Kilcoole, Co. Wicklow
