County: Kilkenny Site name: KILKENNY: 13 Blackmill Street
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 00E0750
Author: Niall Gregory
Site type: Structure, Building, Burial ground and Metalworking site
Period/Dating: Multi-period
ITM: E 651097m, N 656151m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.654145, -7.244788
A test excavation was carried out here on 16 October 2000. Planning permission had already been received to demolish an existing structure at the rear of the property and construct a two-storey extension at the same location. The site on which the development occurs occupies 53m2 to the rear of the extant structure. The extant building consists of a two-storey townhouse within the medieval city. The site was close to the Black Abbey.
Three trenches were excavated. Test-trench 1 extended 6m to the north-western portion of the site; Trench 2 extended 4m to the south-east; Trench 3 was in the north-east of the site and ran perpendicular to Trenches 1 and 2. The exposed ground surface of the site was situated c. 0.2m below the adjacent footpath. Two sherds of 13th- to 14th-century local pottery and two fragments of human bone were recovered.
Trowel clearance within Trench 2 revealed an in situ human skull, which was partly exposed in redeposited natural subsoil. The remains of a 13th–14th-century wall foundation were partially exposed in Trench 1.
This licence was extended, and a full excavation of the site took place between 23 and 26 October, prior to development. The wall consisted of a lime-bonded mortar wall foundation that was one course deep. Its exposed extent measured 2.1m by 0.66m. The western portion of the wall was better preserved than the remainder. It could be seen that the portion of the wall within the original test-trench formed the south-eastern end of the structure. Other features consisted of a 13th–14th-century refuse pit, a slightly later industrial ditch and associated metalled surface, which appears to be related to lead-working, probably from the abbey.
There were also two distinct periods of human burials (thirteen in total). The first period pre-dated the lead-working phase, while the second post-dated it. Tile fragments and pottery sherds determined that the archaeological nature of the site dated to the 13th–14th centuries. The remains of a modern skeleton, which was removed to the coroner’s office, were also found.
Flat 1, Main Street, Blessington, Co. Wicklow
