2022:389 - 44-45 Castle Street, rear of, Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Dublin

The client, Michael Good, is undertaking construction of a detached, 2-storey house and a 2-storey terrace of 3 houses with new access via Castle Cove, supermarket car park on a greenfield site at the rear of 44-45 Castle Street, Dalkey, Co. Dublin. Condition No. 10 of An Bord Pleanála Reference specifies requirement for archaeological monitoring and Impact Assessment. Phase 1 of archaeological monitoring occurred between 8 and 21 July 2021. No archaeology was encountered and it was found that the uppermost strata on the site was a spread of late 19th-century demolition debris and topsoil, overlying natural subsoil.
This work was continued with Phase 2 (excavation for connection of services) between 7 and 13 September 2022. It involved trench excavation to install service ducts and supply. Stratigraphy consisted of 0.15m street paving and bedding layer, or imported soil and debris, onto 0.2m friable grey brown sandy silt and stone with 19th-20th-century materials, onto 0.6m dark grey brown silt, onto 0.25m striated yellow-grey silty sand (natural subsoil) for remainder. The imported topsoil comprised extensive 19th-century ground reduction and backfill and 20th-century intrusion, overlying silty soil naturally developed though poor localised drainage, onto original silts.
No archaeology was encountered. Phase 3 (construction of 3 terraced houses) will take place in 2023.

Dunburbeg, Clonmel Road, Cashel, Co. Tipperary