County: Kilkenny Site name: KILKENNY: Abbey Street/Abbey Square
Sites and Monuments Record No.: SMR 19:26 Licence number: 00E0335
Author: Frank Ryan, for Mary Henry Archaeological Services
Site type: Religious house - Dominican friars and Graveyard
Period/Dating: Medieval (AD 400-AD 1600)
ITM: E 650227m, N 656122m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.653966, -7.257647
Prior to the rerouting of gas, ESB, phone and Cablelink services to below ground level, and the resurfacing of the footpaths and roads at Abbey Square/Abbey Street, carried out on behalf of Kilkenny Corporation, the routes had to be archaeologically resolved. The services were, as much as possible, installed along routes that had been previously excavated, thus minimising the disturbance to in situ archaeological layers.
Previous excavations in this area, including pipework trench construction for the Breagagh River drainage scheme and other building projects, revealed the existence of a medieval graveyard south of the Black Abbey.
Twelve test-trenches were dug, nine of which yielded evidence of archaeological material. Structures were recorded in seven of these trenches. These included two walls in Trench 1, one of which was the west precinct wall of the medieval graveyard attached to the Black Abbey. This extended into Trench 5. A culvert was located in Trench 2 and again in Trench 7. The corner of a building was exposed in Trench 10, along with a cobbled surface. The east chancel wall of the Black Abbey and a tiled floor were recorded in Trench 11. Trench 12 yielded a network of culverts and a cobbled surface.
The complete or partial skeletons of three individuals were removed for further examination, as well as pottery, tiles and animal bones.
As a result of the close cooperation of the Borough Engineer and his team of workers, the service pipework was rerouted to avoid causing damage to archaeological structures.
The programme of works has been temporarily suspended owing to lack of funds. However, most of the service routes have now been archaeologically resolved.
28 Cabinteely Way, Dublin 18
