1997:313 - THOMASTOWN: Chapel Lane, Kilkenny

On foot of a planning application, an archaeological test excavation was conducted in a disused garden on the south side of Chapel Lane during October 1995. This site was of interest as it was located at the north-east corner of the medieval borough, immediately outside of the line of the demolished town wall, according to the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (1840). The site is located on the steep slope of a hill which descends in a southerly direction into the town, towards the River Nore.

The work involved the excavation of four linear trenches, averaging 1.3m in width. These were concentrated in the northern half of the site, where it was proposed to build three dwelling-houses. Three trenches (A, B and D) ran in a north–south direction parallel to each other. Trench C, which was dug in the eastern half of the site, ran east–west and linked Trench B with the southern end of Trench D.

The investigation showed that the site was used as a garden over a long period of time. It is depicted as such on the 1840 map. The northern side of the property was scarped away from the slope of the hill. The footing of the modern stone wall, which formed the northern boundary of the site, overlay natural deposits. This contrasted with the southern part of the garden, where there had been a levelling-up of the ground by an accumulation of archaeological deposits.

No evidence for the town wall was found in the excavation. On the 1840 OS map it is shown skirting the west and south of the garden. Since the proposed development was confined to the northern half of the site, the trial-cuttings were mainly confined to that area. Similarly, the western boundary of the site was not investigated since it was also outside the area of the proposed development. Cutting B showed that the southern boundary of the garden consists of a modern retaining wall, which descends down into the town. This encroached into the southern part of the site, and involved the removal of a lot of material, which appears to have included the remains of the town wall in that area. The southern part of Cutting B also revealed the remains of what may have been a shallow ditch. Further investigations would be required in order to determine whether this feature was part of the town defences.

What the excavation did show was that during and after the Middle Ages the ground beneath the northern half of the site, which was located outside the town defences, was extensively disturbed by the digging of pits and trenches. Some of these cut deep into natural deposits. It is likely that these features were dug for the purposes of providing glacially deposited clay and sand for building within the town. Clay was used in the bonding of stone walls up to the 19th century. In excavations carried out at Dysart to the south of the town, a large stone-built house was found, dating from the 17th century, in which this material was used to bond the masonry (Excavations 1989, 33–4; 1991, 27–8).

The make-up of the deposits used in the backfilling of some of the above pits would suggest that they functioned as cesspits during the Middle Ages. They were filled with sherds of pottery, iron slag and organic material.

A total of 89 registered finds were recovered from the excavation. Just under half (43) of these came from the topsoil. Most of the finds (76) consisted of sherds of pottery. In addition, a total of 12.5kg of iron slag was recovered from medieval levels. Fourteen of the pottery sherds dated from the 17th and 18th centuries. These included brownware, blackware and gravel-tempered ware vessels. A total of 51 medieval sherds were recovered. Most of these (48) came from medieval levels, mainly from the fills of the pits that were cut into natural deposits. Apart from one sherd of Saintonge ware, the rest consisted of local wares. These can be divided into two groups. The first consisted of thirteen sherds of unglazed Leinster cooking ware. The distinctive coarse fabric contained flecks of quartz and mica. The second group consisted of 37 sherds of glazed jugs. These vessels have a pink or pink/grey fabric, containing flecks of white calcite. Some of the sherds had a mottled green outer glaze. A noticeable feature of these jugs, which have been found on other medieval sites in County Kilkenny, are the wide strap-handles, bearing incised groove patterns.

Editor’s note: The report on this site, though investigated in 1995, was only recently submitted for publication.

The Parade, Kilkenny