2024:656 - A Site at the rear of 8–10 Bath Street (Yellow Stores), Irishtown, Dublin

Archaeological test-trenching was undertaken at a proposed development site at the rear of 8–10 Bath Street (Yellow Stores), Irishtown, Co. Dublin. The site lies within the Zone of Archaeological Potential (ZAP) of DU018-054; Settlement Cluster – Irishtown. Two other Recorded Monuments are located c.130m to the south of the site: a church (DU018-054001-) and a graveyard (DU018-054002-) (also both located in the Irishtown).

Archaeological test excavation of a single trench (T1) was carried out at the site to investigate the archaeological potential and establish the ground conditions in an area of known land reclamation. Works were undertaken on 26 March 2024.

The proposed development is located within a small, enclosed site measuring c.75m squared  (c.16.5m x 4.5m). The site previously functioned as a plaster-casting workshop up to the latter half of the twentieth century; however, it is now unroofed and derelict. Due to the size and confines of the site, only a single test-trench was excavated. The test-trench was located at the eastern end of the site and measured c.6.6m linear metres (1.2m wide) equating to c.10% of the total site.

The existing floor level at the site was c.+3.2m OD. Works established that the original pebble and sand shore level was at a depth of c.1.8m below ground level (BGL) i.e., +1.4m OD and that the ground level had been built up to its current level with nineteenth-century material and covered with mid-twentieth-century material. The test-trench identified the partial remains of a cobbled cellar floor (dating to the nineteenth century based on mortar analysis) at a depth of c.1.9m BGL – i.e., the cellar surface was at +1.3m OD. No finds or features of an archaeological nature were uncovered during the test-trenching.

Proposed development works comprised service reconnections, ground reduction of the existing floor level and a mini-piling programme. These works will take place within modern levels and lower nineteenth-century rubble material, and into the pebble and sand shore levels. No further archaeological works were recommended for the site.