1998:348 - KILKENNY: 14 High Street, Kilkenny

An L-shaped test-trench was excavated in the cobbled yard to the rear of 14 High Street, Kilkenny, to comply with a planning condition. The area of the proposed development lies within the walled medieval city. Access to the yard is gained from a medieval laneway, running at a right angle from High Street. The gable of the 'Hole in the Wall' forms the northern boundary of the yard. It is a late 16th-century building, identified as Site 50 by the Urban Archaeological Survey of Kilkenny. John G.A. Prim (JKEIAS 1862–63, 169–77) describes the 'Hole in the Wall' as 'the great supper house of Kilkenny at the end of the last and beginning of the present century and [it] was particularly patronised by John Butler, Earl of Ormonde', and he quotes:

If ever you go to Kilkenny,
Remember 'The Hole-in-the-Wall'
You may there get blind drunk for a penny,
Or tipsy for nothing at all

The test-trench measured 5.5m north-south by 4.5m and was 2m wide. It was excavated to a depth of 2m (51.026m OD). Five layers were recorded. C1 was a sandy clay with inclusions of brick, slate and modern pottery. C2 was a sandy clay with inclusions of mortar, shells, charcoal and animal bone. C3 was a clay with inclusions of charcoal and post-medieval pottery. C4 was a clay with inclusions of brick, slate, post-medieval pottery and animal bone. C5, a layer of gravel, was the basal layer in the trench. It was excavated to a depth of 0.7m and appears to be natural.

The layers C1–4 included sherds of post-medieval pottery and fragments of brick and slate. No archaeological features or artefacts, with the exception of the post-medieval pottery, were recorded or recovered from the trench.

Clover Hill, Mallow, Co. Cork