County: Dublin Site name: Cabragh
Sites and Monuments Record No.: n/a Licence number: 23E0304
Author: Eoin Halpin
Site type: Urban
Period/Dating: Modern (AD 1750-AD 2000)
ITM: E 712605m, N 736787m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 53.369264, -6.307920
The subject site is a green field extending to some 2.5 ha, located in the townland of Dublin North City. It is bounded to the east by the Ratoath Road, to the north by the grounds of St Catherine’s National School, to the west by the avenue leading to St Dominic’s College and to the south by the grounds of St Sabina House and Pope John Paul Park.
The proposed development consisted of the construction of 95 residential dwellings and associated access and services. Dublin City Council placed an archaeological condition of the planning permission, requesting a pre-development site assessment, which was carried out between 9 and 11 May 2023.
The archaeological testing consisted of 16 machine-dug trenches excavated across the entire footprint of the site. The results suggested that originally the ground sloped quite steeply down from west to east. However, the entire eastern half of the field had been levelled up by the importation of significant quantities of stony soil, covered in an additional layer of imported topsoil. The finds from this ‘made ground’ deposit, suggested that the levelling up had occurred in the early 20th century, possibly associated with developments within the nearby Dominican College. The rapid ingress of water along the eastern margins of the site suggests that the boundary running along the eastern side of the site may once have been a stream.
Nothing of archaeological interest was uncovered in the assessment
AHC Ltd 36 Ballywillwill Road, Castlewellan Co Down BT31 9LF
