2002:0914 - JIGGINSTOWN HOUSE, Jigginstown, Kildare

A further season of excavation took place at Jigginstown House, Naas, in late 2002. The interior of the roofless building and a few areas on the outside had been investigated in winter 2001 by Audrey Gahan for ADS Ltd (licence 01E1109). The 2002 season investigated a large hollow inside the building, an area of proposed drainage on the southern side, and an original but malfunctioning drain, and possible door position, on the northern side.

The hollow inside the building should have been filled to, or close to, floor level during construction in the 1640s. Although the building was originally fully floored, roofed, and plastered inside, the large hollow beneath the floor had never been fully filled. Fill below the floor (around the cellars) was generally upcast clay and soil from foundation cutting and landscaping. However, the final (and incomplete) fill was brick, mostly broken, but unused and potentially of some value. The persisting hollow had been spanned by a wooden floor.

An upcast bank was set against the south side of the building, providing a terrace overlooking a large sunken garden (still eminent). The bank was built up late in the construction of the house and was built against scaffolding. A limekiln, perhaps for internal plaster, was built into the bank. A broken window pane was discarded where the scaffolding was removed, together with prestigious domestic waste (suggesting that the house was occupied before construction was complete).

The terrace around the sunken garden was not completed, sloping away to the east and exposing the rough footings of the house. The bank was poorly surfaced with a narrow path. There was no indication of planting before the current standing trees (planted in the early 20th century).

The possible second-door position on the north side of the house was dismissed. There was no indication of access stairs, despite a very well-preserved construction level.

One of two large box drains carrying water from the basement of the building (and from the roof via internal downpipes) had failed, probably because of poor grading on the way to the lower ground. During construction, part of the drain close to the house had been exhumed and a temporary sump cut and filled. A new drain appears to have been quarried into the north-west corner of the basement. Although this probably coped with the original problem, the removal of the roof and windows, and damage to the basement floor, has resulted in standing water today.

Building debris covered the exhumed drain and sump and the ground around. A wall parallel to the house was built and dismantled during the construction, and banks of gravel were dumped but not spread and consolidated into surfacing. The ground was not raised to cover the exposed rough footings of the house, and no planting holes were cut before the present trees were planted in the early 20th century.

Construction debris for the house overlay the truncated remains of a ploughed field, which overlay a number of features (not excavated) probably associated with medieval pottery in the residual ploughsoil. Similar pottery was recovered from the upcast terrace bank at the south-west corner of the house. The medieval settlement had contracted or expired long before the house was built.

Knockrower Road, Stradbally, Co. Waterford