2001:711 - KILKENNY: NOR-13, Ormond Weir, Kilkenny

Introduction
An assessment was carried out at Ormond Weir, Dukesmeadows, Kilkenny, in July and August 2001 as part of ongoing pre-development assessment for the River Nore (Kilkenny City) Drainage Scheme (formerly known as the Kilkenny Flood Relief Scheme). This assessment followed on from land-based and underwater assessments of the Ormond Mills complex, carried out by the writer in 2000 (Excavations 2000, No. 533, 00E0388) and by Niall Brady (Excavations 2000, No. 549, 00D033). Proposed development included excavation of a 20m-wide breach in the centre of the weir to facilitate lower water-levels for construction within the river, and removal of up to 10m of the right bank to widen the river. Assessment of the archaeological impact of the proposed breach was not possible in advance without actually creating the intended breach. Therefore archaeological test excavation was undertaken on the adjoining riverbank, which was also to be developed, in order to assess its potential and investigate the possibility of the weir continuing under the bank. In the latter case a partial excavation of the weir would be achievable in dry conditions without affecting the river flow.

Background
The Ormond Mills complex is located on the south or right bank of the River Nore, 340m downstream of Kilkenny Castle. It is marked on the Record of Monuments and Places, the Urban Archaeological Survey of County Kilkenny (Ref. Map 4c: 81), and the Industrial Archaeological Survey, which described it as ‘a medieval mill site (destroyed above ground level) and an intact post-medieval/early modern water mill, with six surviving undershot mill wheels and three mill races’. Ormond Weir spans the River Nore for a length of 185m east–west, curving slightly north mid-channel. It is upstream of Ormond Mills and feeds the mill head-race. This weir is first recorded on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1841. Its location is shown as a curving bedrock outcrop on Francis Place’s pen-and-ink drawing of c. 1698, Rocque’s map of 1758 and Mitchell’s oil painting of 1760.

Results
Assessment consisted of a land-based cutting measuring 10m east–west by 5m, opened on the adjoining right bank, which revealed a section of the weir and its eastern terminus. Two trenches were then excavated by hand through the weir structure and extended to assess the potential of this area. The results of this excavation showed the weir to be a single-phase structure, built on a natural scarp of bedrock, itself forming a natural weir at this location. The weir structure was orientated east–west, curving slightly northwards mid-channel to follow the line of the natural shelf, and measured 195m in length, 6.5–10m in width and 1.6m in height. The weir was constructed in the following way.

• Firstly, a U-shaped linear trough was dug into the river gravels, immediately downstream of the natural bedrock outcrop. The linear trough or ditch was 1.75–2.8m wide and 0.45m deep, and also provided a deep channel immediately downstream of the toe of the weir. The spoil from this trough was redeposited on top of the outcrop as a low, roughly concave bank, 9.5m+ long (continuing west into the baulk), 3m wide and 0.4m high.
• Hammered into the gravel bank and underlying bedrock was a single line of upright roundwood stakes that marked out the line of the weir. Four excavated timber posts with worked pencil-point ends (several smashed) were irregularly spaced over an area measuring 5.5m. Each post measured 0.25–0.3m in length and 30–60mm in diameter.
• A second bank of heavy clay and river gravels was built up around this, forming the core for the weir. This was then consolidated by pitching stones, which were keyed in to form a watertight outer face. The pitching stone was angular cut limestone, shaped to trapezoidal/triangular points and a gently curving outer face, 0.23–0.5m in diameter.
• The eastern terminus of this structure was relined with stone, which splayed out to a width to conform to the tapering riverbank. This section was constructed using similar, only finer, pitching stone and measured 5m in length east–west, 6.5–8m north–south in tapering width, and 0.25m in thickness.

A number of flood-related deposits post-dated the weir and were associated with the expansion of the right bank westwards. The trough cut silted up with a waterlogged organic fill, which was followed by a waterlogged clay flood-borne deposit. Shrubs began to establish themselves on the surface of the stone weir face, causing a silt trap; this allowed topsoil to build up, resulting in the western expansion of the right bank. This was then cut into by a modern pit backfilled with silty-clay topsoil, with inclusions of plastic and animal bones (sheep and cow).

Conclusions
Prior to construction of this site the location was already a natural weir serving the adjacent earlier milling complex. Although no firm artefactual evidence was retrieved, Ormond Weir can be cartographically dated to the later 18th or early 19th century. The high levels of outcropping bedrock would provide ideal locations for fording-points in use from as early as prehistoric times, resulting in prehistoric material buried within the lower river gravel deposits; detailed archaeological monitoring was therefore recommended.

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