Large scale urban excavations since 1969 have yielded timber structures, within archaeological contexts of the 10th to 14th centuries, in the City of Dublin. Two oak chronologies have resulted from dendrochronological work in the area spanning A.D. 885 to 1306 and A.D. 1357 to 1556. These chronologies should allow the precise dating of oak timbers from subsequent excavations in the area and will form the basis of an eventual continuous Dublin chronology.

The chronology presented was constructed in the hope of answering two specific questions. It was intended to assess the potential of dendrochronology in an area where no previous investigations had taken place. In addition it was necessary as a step towards assessing the cross agreements between different areas within the British Isles. The resulting 1030 year chronology has shown the potential usefulness of the method in Scotland and allowed the suggestion of larger tree -ring areas within the British Isles than have previously been supposed.

The initial tree-ring chronology for the north of Ireland extended to A.D. 1380. Considerable difficulty was experienced in consolidating an extension back across the 14th century. This difficulty, partially founded on historical factors, has now been resolved and suitable timbers have been obtained to allow the presentation of the Belfast chronology to A.D. 1001.