2021:288 - Palmerston Lower, Dublin 20, Dublin

The client, Randalswood Construction Ltd, is undertaking demolition of existing modern structures, site clearance of a former retail park, ground works entailing construction of basement level, services connections and associated groundworks, in advance of apartment construction. The development entails construction of 250 built-to-rent apartments set out in four blocks and with basement level parking and services.
In all the site measures approximately 250 west-north-west to east-south-east by up to 80m. At commencement of archaeological monitoring the site was set with modern retail units and car parking at the east sector, significant car parking with retail units in the central aspect of the site, and predominantly retail with car parking at the west sector.
The groundworks occurred in a phased approach that commenced on 22 April 2021 and concluded on 22 December 2021. It commenced with trench excavation of 1-1.5m depth around the perimeter of the site, within which pile driving occurred in order to stabilise and buffer the underlying strata. Other preliminary ground works involved trench excavation to retain services etc. Once this was completed, the site’s interior was fully excavated to a depth of 4-5m, within which the apartment blocks were constructed from the basement level upwards. This excavation commenced at the east end.
It was found that the stratigraphy principally comprised of 0.1m tarmac; onto 0.35m stone, clay and red brick; onto 1m mixed brown silty clay with building debris; onto 1-1.5m grey brown to yellow brown silt; onto dark grey black silty clay and some bedrock for the remainder. Where there previously were buildings, the upper stratigraphy presented at concrete foundations with internal floors. The upper layers were also extensively truncated by existing services.
The soil strata demonstrated a wet environment, upon which building debris had been imported in order to consolidate and solidify the site, prior to its construction as the former retail park. Variations in the imported building debris throughout the site showed phased approach to its consolidation, or at least building debris being imported from multiple locations in order to complete the task. As the monitoring work progressed, elderly people local to Palmerstown provided oral confirmation that the site was once swamp or marshy land within the first half of the 20th century upon which the retail park was then constructed.
No archaeology was encountered during the ground works.

Dunburbeg, Clonmel Road, Cashel, Co. Tipperary