BENCHMARKS continued
Benchmarker can not be sure that this is/was a benchmark. The location - on the base of the left hand pillar at the entrance to the Mansion House in Dublin - is just the sort of spot where a 'mark would be expected to be. If indeed it was a 'mark then it appears that it was attacked with a blunt instrument at some stage. If this is what happened, might it have occurred on the occasion of the sitting of the first Dail in 1919? Perhaps an emotional supporter or two decided to show their antipathy to the colonial power by attacking a small symbol of that power, namely the benchmark inscribed on the building by British Army Ordnance Survey personnel.
Perhaps if any old photographs of the building come to hand, some of the mystery can be solved.
Below: The 'mark, if indeed it is such, at the entrance to the Mansion House in Dublin.
Above: The Mansion House with the 'mark on the entrance pillar on the left.