1999:447 - KILKENNY: 24 John Street Upper, Kilkenny

The site is in the centre of Kilkenny and to the north-east of the River Nore. It is just 20m to the east of the St John's Abbey, an Augustinian priory.

Existing buildings were demolished on the site, and testing was undertaken before construction of a large, two-storey licensed premises. Four test-trenches were opened. The first was along the proposed new gable wall, at the nearest point to the nearby Augustinian priory. Its upper levels were dominated by a mixture of loose rubble fill and hardcore. At a depth of c. 0.25–0.3m below ground level (45.96m OD) a drystone wall was uncovered in the northern half of the trench. Abutting one side of the wall and near its base was a cobbled surface. The wall appeared to be a garden or boundary wall, with the cobbled yard running up to its side. The remainder of the trench was dominated by post-medieval deposits. The deposits were mixed and contained fragmented red brick, oyster shell, animal bone and one rimsherd of post-medieval date. A thin band of redeposited boulder clay separated the post-medieval deposits from a series of riverine sand and gravel deposits with a high content of water-rolled pebbles and small stones. The riverine deposits occurred at a level of 45.1m OD and extended to the base of the trench.

The second test-trench was along the east gable of the proposed building. Underlying a deposit of dark brown fill were riverine deposits. The riverine deposits occurred at high levels along the east part of the site, 46.98m OD.

It was noted from the opening of the third trench, in the middle of the site, that the riverine deposits rose quite noticeably in a west-east direction, from 45.1m OD along the west to 45.64m OD in the middle and 46.98m OD in the east part of the site. In this trench a large pit truncated the riverine sand and gravel deposits at 0.6m below ground level. The upper fill in the cut was very mixed, with inclusions of wood, mortar and rubble, garden soil, red brick and small stones. The underlying fill was redeposited, yellowish-brown, coarse sand. It overlay a dark, greyish-brown, silty sand. It contained frequent amounts of small stones, extensive charcoal, occasional fragmented red brick and oyster shell, crushed mortar and a small quantity of animal bone. One sherd of slipware was recovered from the fill. The primary fill was very dark, greyish-brown sand and silt. It contained charcoal and mortar.

The final trench was to the back of the development site. A soak pit dominated one half of the trench. The soak pit truncated a deep, post-medieval deposit. This deposit was quite homogeneous and extended to the riverine deposits, 44.65m OD. The riverine deposits were at much lower levels at the rear of the site than those along the east, middle or western sides. It was possible that the level of the riverine deposits had been reduced here and infilled with the post-medieval deposits, the later soak pit reflecting the post-medieval activity on the site.

No medieval deposits, features or structures were found on the site, nor was anything found that could be associated with the nearby Augustinian priory. The closeness of riverine deposits to ground level was the most noticeable feature.

24 Queen Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary