County: Dublin Site name: Corkagh Park, Corkagh Demesne, Clondalkin
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DU021-011001, -002, -003 Licence number: 23E0423 ext.
Author: Maeve McCormick
Site type: 17th- and 18th-century structures
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 705530m, N 730183m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.311397, -6.416387
The aim of this excavation was to preserve by record the foundation walls and floor surfaces uncovered during earlier testing works (23E0213 & 23E0423), in advance of construction. The untested greenspace area to the north of the excavation cutting and the area to the east of the ‘Hub Zone’ were unable to be tested due to the presence of services and the remains of a petting zoo. Both these areas are scheduled for landscaping only and will be monitored, also under License 23E0423 ext., as construction work progresses across those areas.
Topsoil/overburden in the area was carefully removed during the previous additional testing works (23E0423) and so excavation commenced on an already exposed site. The exposed archaeological features and deposits were cleaned back by hand prior to excavation.
Works took place between 6 and 11 September 2023. The excavation was undertaken across an irregular-shaped area measuring roughly 44m north-east/south-west x 17m with an area of approximately 588 sq.m as agreed in advance with the NMS.
The excavations removed foundation walls and cobbled floor surfaces which were relatively modern in date and correspond to the 17th- and 18th-century building depicted in the historical mapping, which was demolished in the 1960s.
Earlier testing (23E0423) revealed several foundation walls on a variety of alignments (C8, C9, C10, C11, C13, C15, C16, C17, C18, C20, C21, C22, C24) and three cobbled floor surfaces (C14, C19, C28) alongside evidence of demolition/ rubble layers (C2, C7, C23), a tunnel (C5), modern utilities (C4, C6, C12, C25, C27) and modern path (C26). The cobbles were found to rest upon levelling layers (C32, C33, C34, C41, C42 & C43). All of these features were excavated during the current works alongside a newly-discovered foundation wall, C41, which ran northward perpendicular to foundation wall C21. Several of the foundation walls were found to be within foundation trenches (C30, C31, C35, C36, C38, C39, C45, C46, C47 & C48). All foundation walls seemed to be relatively modern in date and correspond to the 17th- and 18th-century structures depicted on historical mapping.
There was no evidence of the Historical Castle (RMP DU021-011001) which was suspected to be in this location. Intermittent archaeological monitoring will take place under this license over the coming months, as the landscaping and construction works progress.
Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF
