County: Dublin Site name: Marmalade Lane, Balally
Sites and Monuments Record No.: NA Licence number: 20E0318
Author: Declan Moore
Site type: Urban, no archaeology found
Period/Dating: N/A
ITM: E 717458m, N 727107m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.281256, -6.238618
Archaeological testing was undertaken of the site of proposed strategic housing development at Marmalade Lane, Wyckham Avenue, Dundrum, Dublin. The development is proposed for a greenfield site located beside, to the east of, Gort Mhuire, a 19th-century house and grounds, completed in 1870, which is now a Carmelite Centre having been purchased by the Carmelites in 1944.
Several other historical houses and features are located in the vicinity of the development, though there are no archaeological features recorded nearby, the closest being the site of a tower-house, no longer standing, which lies approximately 550m to the east of the proposed development site.
Eight test trenches were excavated at the site in generally bright and sunny conditions on 2 July 2020. The trenches were machine excavated using a backhoe excavator with a 1.9m wide toothless, ditching bucket and ran parallel across the field, which has a gentle southwest to northeast gradient. Topsoil was removed to natural subsoil and the excavated ground was assessed for the presence of archaeological features.
The location and alignment of trenches was informed by the site’s topography and ecology and background research. Towards the upper part of the field, at its higher point in the southwest, bedded granite is exposed on the surface with outcrops of this bedrock observed in several of the test trenches towards the upper hillslope and towards the eastern end of the site.
In general, the stratigraphy comprised a mid-brown sandy silty topsoil and sod ranging in depth from 200-250mm overlying deposits of modern builders’ rubble and dumped material. This in turn overlay natural subsoil which ranged from a yellowish moderately compact clay subsoil with frequent inclusions of medium- sized stones to the east and south to a fine grey gravel with frequent angular stones. Outcrops of bedrock were encountered in places. Nothing of archaeological significance was noted during the testing.
Much of the proposed development site was scarped or stripped back and subsequently inundated with imported fill. This fill is visible on the aerial photograph from 2000 and is likely related to construction works for the South-Eastern Motorway or fill material related to the construction of the R824 Wyckham Way.
3 Gort na Rí, Athenry, Co. Galway
