1970:21 - KILKENNY CITY (St. Francis’s Friary), Kilkenny

NMI Burial Excavation Records

County: Kilkenny Site name: KILKENNY CITY (St. Francis’s Friary)

Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number:

Author: Mr. P. David Sweetman, National Parks and Monuments Branch/0.P.W.

Site type: Religious house - Franciscan friars

Period/Dating: Late Medieval (AD 1100-AD 1599)

ITM: E 651097m, N 656151m

Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.654145, -7.244788

The Friary is a thirteenth century foundation; only the choir remains, and a fourteenth century tower at its west end. In 1963 the area to the north of the choir was investigated, revealing the north aisle and north wall of the nave.

In 1970, Smithwicks Brewery proposed to erect a new building immediately to the south of the nave area, on a site occupied by a fairly recent building which incorporated cut and dressed stone from the Friary. This building was said to lie along the west range of the Friary; and it was decided to attempt to discover the Friary walls and the plan of the domestic area.

Only this limited area could be investigated as the site was covered completely by reinforced concrete. Mechanical shovels and compressors were used to disclose the full extent of the west range, with a door-way in the east wall leading from the cloister area.

The north range appeared to have a cellar area underneath it; this was filled with modern material, which included thirteenth and seventh century pottery. Material had obviously been collected from all over the site to fill in the cellar and to provide a foundation for the recent building.

The pottery included some thirteenth century French sherds, and some thirteenth-fourteenth century material of English type. The bulk of the finds consisted of seventeenth century pottery, including a Bellarmine jug and some slipware dishes.

Further excavations found the south wall of the nave, and a section was cut across the cloister wall. No distinctive cloister stonework was found.