County: Dublin Site name: 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU018-060, DU022-082 Licence number: 20E0067
Author: Ian Russell, Archaeological Consultancy Services Unit
Site type: No archaeological significance
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 717688m, N 731392m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.319696, -6.233583
A programme of archaeological test trenching was carried out at Nos. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4 in June 2021. The site is located north of the River Dodder and is in a sub-rectangular shaped site. It is bounded to the east by Donnybrook Road, to the south by Eglinton Road, to the west by Brookvale Road and to the north by commercial properties. It recently was the location of 6 two-storey residential properties, with long plots to the rear and small gardens fronting onto Eglinton road.
The site is located within the Zone of Archaeological Potential associated with Donnybrook/Ballsbridge (DU018-060) and within the constraint area of the historic settlement of Donnybrook. The south-east corner was located partially within the zone of notification for Bridge (DU022-082003) known as Anglesey Bridge/Stillorgan Bridge, that is located c. 45m south-east of the edge of the site. There are no protected structures on site within the Dublin City Development Plan 2016-2022, one such structure situated c.58m to the east is ritual site – holy well (RPS ID 2494) described as ‘St. Broc’s Well at former Ballinguile House; now in Eglinton Square’. The well is also a recorded monument, DU022-08201.
Test trenching was carried out on site using a 14-tonne tracked excavator. A total of 5 test trenches were excavated across the footprint of the proposed development site. Each trench measured 1.9m width and a total of 124m of linear trenches were excavated. The site is situated on built-up land. The area, it appears, was reclaimed in the 19th/20th century from the floodplain of the River Dodder. The original ground was built up by over 2m to the present-day level. The inclusions in this mixed debris were building rubble, modern china, delph, bricks, slate, mortar, lime, glass bottles, ceramic jars, iron pipes and glass marbles. There were no inclusions of material earlier than the 19th century in date.
No archaeological features or deposits were identified and no finds were recovered. It is therefore recommended that no further archaeological input is required.
Unit 21, Boyne Business Park, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth
