County: Kilkenny Site name: KILKENNY: Pudding Lane
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 95E0224
Author: Margaret Gowen
Site type: Excavation - miscellaneous
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 650570m, N 655807m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.651099, -7.252636
Archaeological test-trenching was carried out on a proposed development site at Pudding Lane to fulfil a condition in the planning decision. The site lies within the zone of archaeological potential as defined by the County Development Plan and the OPW Urban Archaeological Survey.
Five trenches were opened by mechanical excavator. Traces of some features of a recently demolished domestic dwelling were evident at the back of the site in the boundary walls on the north and south sides. A cobbled surface, associated with both the interior and exterior of the house, survived relatively undisturbed across much of the site below sod and cultivated soil. A mass concrete threshold was revealed c. 0.3m below present ground level, resting on the cobbled surface.
Pit 1, located at the east (Pudding Lane) end of the site some 8m back from the laneway, revealed a sequence of habitation deposits and possible clay floors indicating a stratigraphic buildup of occupation soils and floors associated with the medieval lane. Properties fronting onto the street extended back at least as far as this location, but associated activity did not extend further back than approximately 10–15m.
The portion of the site on which the proposed house was to be built produced no evidence for archaeological soils or early (medieval) features. The site does not have any further archaeological implications and the proposed development is not in any danger of causing any damage to the archaeological remains.
Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin
