2024:243 - 92-93 St Stephen’s Green South, Dublin, Dublin

An archaeological impact assessment was undertaken on 92-93 St Stephen’s Green South, Dublin. The site measures approximately c.1215 sq. m and comprises two 4-storey Georgian houses (NIAH 50920162 & 50920163; DCC RPS# 7802 & 7803) with basement and buildings with parking to the rear. The current works involved monitoring of Site Investigations works, and licensed test excavations undertaken by Maeve McCormick.

Test excavation was undertaken on 26 August 2024 in dry sunny weather conditions. A single test trench was positioned across the site. The trench measured 18m north-south x 1‑1.5m wide x 1.25‑2m deep. A layer of tarmac with underlying crushed stone (0.15m) was recorded at the top of the trench and covered a 0.15m thick cobbled surface which was levelled up with concrete. This in turn overlay a layer of brown sandy clay with inclusions of red brick, limestone cobbles and blocks and some fragments of concrete. There was a much higher frequency of these inclusions across the southern 9.5m of the trench. The layer of demolition material was recorded directly above natural subsoil for the southern 6m of the trench. The natural subsoil consisted of a yellow sandy clay with some stone inclusions. It was recorded at 1.25‑1.5m deep from the existing ground surface. At 6‑9.5m from the southern end of the trench further demolition rubble was exposed at the base of the trench at 1.5‑2m from the existing ground surface. This was the maximum reach of the mechanical excavator. At 9.5‑18m from the southern end of the trench, a layer of yellowish-brown sandy clay was exposed along the base of the trench at 2m deep. This may be natural subsoil. No buried archaeological sites, features, structures or objects were recorded in the course of test excavation.

Archer Heritage Planning, Unit 1, Tenure Business Park, Co Louth A92 K2VF