2022:419 - Diamond Park, Gardiner Street Lower, Dublin 1, Dublin

A programme of archaeological monitoring was carried out on lands at Diamond Park, Gardiner Street Lower and Seán MacDermott Street Lower, Dublin 1 in September and October 2022. The work was conducted to facilitate the refurbishment of Diamond Park.

The monitoring was carried out in specific areas with a series of pits and trenches excavated for the laying of new services and sleeves for street lighting. An eighteenth-century basement was uncovered in the northwest of the site. The basement consisted of three red brick walls with a concrete cap covering a void. An investigation trench was excavated running south from the basement which uncovered a series of additional walls. The structural remains align with buildings visible on the 1843 and 1912 Ordnance Survey maps.

To the eastern side of the site another vaulted cellar was uncovered; the feature was capped and preserved in situ. To the west of this cellar a cobbled surface was identified in one of the east-west service trenches. The continuation of the cobbled surface was identified in a further service trench running roughly parallel to the first. The cobbled surface was preserved in situ. The remains of a small redbrick wall were identified at the east end of the cobbled surface. This wall was recorded before being demolished to make way for the drain.

A number of glass bottles were found in association with the cobbled surface. These were identified as largely mineral water or lemonade bottles and machine-made wine bottles from the early twentieth century. No other finds were identified during the archaeological works. No archaeological deposits predating the Georgian dwellings were uncovered during the monitoring programme.

Archaeology Plan, 32 Fitzwilliam Place Dublin 2