1997:307 - KILKENNY: St Canice's Place, Kilkenny

A building survey and test excavation were carried out on a proposed development site on the corner of Irishtown (formerly known as Watergate Street) and St Canice’s Place (formerly known as Bull Lane), Kilkenny. The site lies outside Hightown but within Irishtown. The murage of Irishtown is first mentioned in 1377 and it is the earliest indication that this area was walled. The course of the Irishtown wall remains doubtful, but the best conjecture is that based on Rocque’s map (1758), that it abutted the River Breagagh and encircled St Canice’s Cathedral. The streetscape consists of a main angled highway passing around the south and east side of the Cathedral, along the line of Dean Street, St Canice’s Place and Vicar Street. Dean’s Gate and Vicar’s Gate lay at the end of this routeway along the line of the town wall. The third gate in Irishtown was Green’s Gate, guarding the ford over the river. The axis between Irishtown and Hightown was along Parliament Street and through the Water Gate.

Test excavation
Two test-trenches were opened on the site, where the same soil profile was evident. The earliest deposit was a naturally occurring fine granular clay, c. 2.5m below the present street level. A 1.5m-deep deposit of organic material was recorded above the natural clay which contained butchered animal bone. The absence of any diagnostic or datable finds (pottery) suggested a medieval date. The depth of the deposit, the nature of the soil and absence of stratification point toward its interpretation as an episode of medieval dumping. A layer of gravel 0.5m deep was recorded above the organic. The gravel was sterile and was interpreted as a deliberate attempt to build a solid surface on which a Tudor building (Phase 1 building) was constructed. Concrete and rubble rested directly on the redeposited gravel surface.

The building survey
Four main phases of construction and alteration were identified in the standing buildings. These have been dated roughly to the following periods: mid-16th/early 17th century, 18th century, 19th century and 20th century.

Phase 1—Tudor house
The earliest phase of the building dates from the mid-16th/early 17th century and consists of fragments of the east and west walls of a Tudor building. The building has been dated stylistically on the basis of a dressed chamfered window and a large fireplace. The width/size of the property plot suggests that the house originally fronted onto Irishtown. The north–south side walls of the house only survive to ground-floor level (approximately 3m above the present ground level). No trace of the west and east walls survive. The Phase 1 building appears to have been destabilised, most likely in the 18th century. The poor ground conditions and flooding may have been factors leading to the collapse/partial demolition of the structure.

Phase 2—18th century
The 18th-century corner building (No. 10 Irishtown/St Canice’s Place) was a two-storey building with a hipped roof. It had a two-bay façade on both the Irishtown and St Canice’s Place frontage. The building measured 7.65m north–south and 9.1m east–west. Little trace of the layout of the ground floor of the pub/shop survived. No trace of the ground- floor stairwell was present. Two chimney flues survived in the south wall, where the Tudor fireplace had been reused by inserting a smaller, brick, arched fireplace into it.

Phases 3 and 4
These phases of alteration consisted of changes to the internal fabric of the building, including supporting walls, inserting new stairwells, floors, etc. (19th/20th-century in date).

Rath House, Ferndale Road, Rathmichael, Co. Dublin