2024:659 - 3-6 Parnell Street & 58-59 Capel Street, Dublin 1., Dublin

Archaeological testing was carried out on the site of a proposed development at 3-6 Parnell Street & 58-59 Capel Street, Dublin 1, carried out in April 2024. The site does not contain any recorded monuments but does lie within the zone of archaeological potential for Historic City (DU018-020). However, it does contain a protected structure at No. 3 Parnell Street (RPS No 6422) and is located within Capel Street and Environs Architectural Conservation Area.

Trenches 1-4 were excavated behind 58-59 Capel Street; Trenches 5-6 were excavated in the basements of 58-59 Capel Street, and Trenches 7-10 were excavated in the basements of 3-6 Parnell Street. Trenches 11-12 were excavated following the demolition and clearance of an 18th – 19th-century structure.

All of the features, walls and layers identified in Trenches 1-4 represented 18th – 20th-century walls of infill
and lay directly upon the natural grey gravels, indicating that the construction of the various structures here
had been excavated deep into the natural subsoils and gravel. The basements (Trenches 5-6) alongside Capel
Street had been filled in with 20th-century infill following the demolition of the structures, though a small
portion of the lime mortar basement floors was exposed above the natural gravels. Testing in the basements
alongside Parnell Street (Trenches 7-12) also indicated that these basements, too, had been excavated into
the natural gravels. A stone and brick well (C14) was identified in Trench 12.
It is recommended that all of the basements identified during the testing behind Capel Street should be emptied of their infilled contents and fully recorded by photograph, plan, elevation and written description before construction commences.