1999:446 - KILKENNY: Bridge House, 87–89 John Street Lower, Kilkenny

Archaeological monitoring was carried out, in April 1999, of service trenches for a petrol sump, water and gas main and several retaining-wall trenches during construction of the Kilkenny River Court Hotel. The hotel is behind Bridge House (Urban Archaeological Survey, Map 4c, 67), overlooking the River Nore. The site was subject to previous survey and archaeological testing (by M. Gowen, Excavations 1995, 49, and E. O'Donovan, Excavations 1998, 116–17), and development was subsequently relocated away from the identified area of archaeological potential.

Most of the features noted during monitoring related to early modern stable buildings and a cobbled yard (recorded before development). However, a number of archaeological features were revealed, which were recorded and preserved in situ.

Bridge House is likely to have been built by the Ormond Butlers, as Charles Butler, earl of Arran and brother of the second duke of Ormond, was in possession of the building in 1704. It was almost certainly the Butlers who rebuilt the house at the end of the 18th century, when the bow and new John Street facade were added and it became the Dower House of the Ormond family. It was extensively refurbished at this stage, with the insertion of a fine stucco plasterwork ceiling.

The site is on the eastern bank of the River Nore, adjacent to St John's Bridge and within the medieval suburb of St John's, which grew up around St John's Priory, thought to have been under the Bridge House site (Finn and Murphy 1962, 35). William Marshall founded the priory in 1211 for the Cannons Regular of St Augustine (also called the Brethren of the Hospital of St John). The monks' first foundation, near John's Bridge, continued in use until 1325, when it moved to its present location at the eastern end of the suburb.

The earliest records of defensive walling around the suburb occur in the early 16th century, when there are references to a stone and lime wall, and a turret in 1570 (Thomas 1992). The medieval suburb of St John's is mentioned in Cromwell's account of the Siege of Kilkenny in 1650. The town wall was evidently in existence from at least the mid-16th century and continued in use through to the end of the 17th century. The line of the suburb town wall and ditch was found in testing to the rear of No. 86 (by E. O'Donovan, Excavations 1998, 116–17), and elsewhere the ditch was revealed by the writer, partly running under Maudlin Street to the small mural tower on that street (Excavations 1998, 117–18). The eastern suburb wall survives along part of the rear property plots of John Street and was found at the rear of Nos 68 and 69 John Street by E. O'Donovan (Excavations 1996, 68–9, 96E0131).

A large, truncated ditch feature was partially revealed in the north-west corner of a petrol-sump tank trench. The partly exposed ditch was parallel to John Street Lower, 11m to the rear of Bridge House, and had a steeply sloping concave profile. It measured 3m in exposed width and 3m in depth and contained a very dark blue, organic fill with wood fragments. Though wider, this ditch appeared to be the continuation of the medieval suburb defensive ditch noted in Trench D, to the rear of No. 85 John Street (see O'Donovan). The ditch was removed within the trench by the remains of a 19th-century outbuilding, constructed on a substantial deposit of brick rubble shored up by a contemporary retaining wall, parallel to the River Nore. The ditch was preserved only under an area of modern cobbling and garden soils.

A possible medieval wall was revealed under John Street, orientated north-east/south-west, aligned with the earlier line of the street leading to an earlier bridge south of the present John's Bridge (shown on J. Rocque's 1758 Map of Kilkenny). This lime-mortared limestone rubble, 0.9m thick and 0.5m+ in exposed depth, was abutted to the south by a deposit of gravel and cobbles, possibly representing an original road surface or foundation. It was also abutted to the north by a very large, concrete water tank, which removed all trace of any associated features or deposits.

The wall was revealed in a gas and foul-water mains trench that extended across John Street through the archway between Nos 87 and 88 and terminated in the hotel carpark area. The trench, 1m wide and 0.5–0.75m deep, contained a number of other features including a stone-lined drain of uncertain date, walls of the 18th/19th-century stables and associated cobbled surfaces. Excavation of this trench also revealed several architectural fragments including a Tudor window lintel and Tudor door-jamb, both originating from Bridge House. A dressed sandstone fragment of possible medieval date was also revealed and may provide evidence of an earlier medieval structure.

Demolition of a brick partition wall and removal of the plaster from the rear of No. 88 John's Street revealed two Tudor window-jambs reused within the fabric of the wall.

References
Finn, J. and Murphy, J.W. 1962 John Street-north and south sides. Old Kilkenny Review 14, 25–39.
Thomas, A. 1992 The walled towns of Ireland (2 vols). Dublin.

2 Killiney View, Albert Road Lower, Glenageary, Co. Dublin