2025:190 - Lucan Village Green & Promenade, Dublin

Archaeological monitoring of the construction groundworks for the Lucan Public Realm Works took place on an intermittent basis, according to the construction schedule, from 14 October 2024 to 2 July 2025.

Monitoring was undertaken because of the elevated archaeological and historical potential of the site due to its location in the Zone of Notification (ZoN) for the historic village of Lucan. The development comprised general ground reductions in the village green area; the excavation of service trenches; two deeper cavities (amphitheatres) near the Griffeen River and other general earthworks and landscaping.

The principal finding of the monitoring was the previously disturbed nature of much of the grounds. A range of finds were identified but as all were common examples of everyday artefacts like glass and pottery sherds and clay pipe fragments from the early modern period; none were retained. The disturbed grounds were caused by electrical and sewer services previously laid within the village green, as well as the remains of a public toilet from the second half of the twentieth century and a retaining wall from the eighteenth or nineteenth century when the River Griffeen was canalized. Ground reductions in the area of the promenade only exposed made ground, likely introduced when the concrete structure of the promenade was itself constructed in recent decades.

No features, finds or deposits of archaeological significance were identified during the course of monitoring.