2026:191 - St. Mary's Laneway, Kilkenny

Archaeological monitoring took place of excavations for trial and inspection pits at St Mary’s Lane, Kilkenny City. The purpose of the overall scheme is to revitalise St Mary’s Lane through effective enhancement measures.

This report is in relation to the archaeological monitoring of a series of trial pits, foundation inspection pits, basement inspection pits, a step inspection pit and CBR Tests by TRL Probe (21 interventions in total) at various locations along the lane. The pits were required to investigate the nature of the general subsurface material and establish the location of several basements for nearby buildings.

The works are located within the historic urban core of Kilkenny City, along a lane which runs around the former St Mary’s Church (KK019-026115—), approximately 50m to the northeast of the River Nore. St Mary’s Lane lies within the zone of archaeological potential for Kilkenny, to the rear of Parliament Street. It runs alongside the southern, western and northern sides of the boundary wall of St Mary’s Church and graveyard.

Monitoring was undertaken between 26 and 28 January 2026. All pits were hand excavated under the supervision of the author.

Six test pits were excavated along the lane. In general, the stratigraphy comprised a modern cobblestone surface in each Trial Pit location overlying made ground varying in composition from gravelly clay to sand with fragments of brick, mortar and human bone fragments. Trial Pits were generally excavated to 1.2m Below modern Ground Level (BGL) and were generally 400-500mm in width.

Basement Inspection Trial Pits were excavated to examine the basement construction of buildings at two locations. Initial attempts at excavation were abortive at both locations, second attempts located the basement roof structure. The stratigraphy of BP 1 comprised of concrete overlying made ground comprising of soft brown sandy gravelly clay with inclusions of brick, ash, and fragmented animal bone. The top of the basement here was encountered at a depth of 400mm. The stratigraphy of BP 2 comprised of concrete overlying made ground comprising of soft brown sandy gravelly clay with inclusions of brick, ash, and fragmented animal bone. A vaulted brick roof was encountered at a depth of 550mm extending to a depth of 950mm onto a concrete base. In addition, the top step of the passage leading from St Mary’s Lane to Rose Inn Street was temporarily removed to establish the nature of the underlying bedding material, which comprised modern concrete.