2002:1006 - KILKENNY: St Canice’s Orchard, Coach Road, Kilkenny

In February 2002 Dúchas, having received a pre-planning enquiry on behalf of St Canice’s Cathedral Select Vestry regarding redeveloping this site as a visitors’ carpark, issued the recommendation that it be tested.

The Deanery Orchard, neglected and overgrown, is a site of c. 1500m2 surrounded by tall stone walls. It lies adjacent to the east side of Church Lane, which rises steeply from Dean Street, at the margin of the inner city, to the precinct of St Canice’s Cathedral on top of the hill to the north. The site is represented, almost exactly as it appears today, on Rocque’s map of Kilkenny, dated 1758. The only significant difference is that today the area is divided into three enclosures by stone fences: a western enclosure running the full north–south length of the site, flanked to the east by a north-east and a south-east enclosure.

The ground surface within the walls slopes gently downhill, from north to south, at a gradient noticeably less than that of Coach Road on the same axis, and terminates in a high, vertical, revetted drop at the southern boundary. Three engineering test-pits excavated in 1997 indicated a considerable depth of topsoil at their locations, and it was proposed that the overall ground level be reduced by the removal of this overburden, a maximum reduction of c. 1.7m.

Five trial-trenches, CT 1–5, were excavated. CT 1, measuring c. 3m north–south by 1m, lay in the south-west corner at the bottom of the site. Natural subsoil (water-worn stones in a matrix of coarse sand) lay at a depth of 2.3m. Beneath the topsoil were thick deposits of stony, redeposited topsoil, containing flecks of mortar, coal, brick and occasional sherds of 18th-century pottery. A clay-pipe stem was found immediately above the natural subsoil.

CT 2 was roughly in the middle of the western enclosure, aligning with CT 3 and CT 4 to the north. It measured 3.3m north–south by 1.1m and was 2.1m in maximum depth. The natural was encountered at 1.12m below present ground level to the north and 1.8m to the south, its surface sloping down from north to south. The deposits between the topsoil and the natural subsoil were similar to those in CT 1 and are provisionally dated to the early 19th century.
CT 3 measured 4.25m north–south by 1.4–2.1m. It was excavated to 0.9–1.7m; the deepest part, near the southern end, corresponded to the earlier engineering trial-hole. In this cutting many features of archaeological significance were encountered. Below the thick layer of redeposited topsoil, found in all cuttings, the latest of the significant deposits was a thick and extensive layer of compact, stony, clay-like material. This deposit, coded (09), lay at a minimum depth of just 0.52m below present ground level and was cut by two graves. An infant grave (17) appeared in the western section of the trench; mechanical excavation had removed the feet, but the articulated fibula and tibia were present, indicating that the head lay to the west. Slightly north of this burial a similar vertical-sided cut and fill (08) were recorded in the eastern section of the trench; no bones were encountered, but it was clear that only the extreme western end had been disturbed by excavation.

Sealed by the homogenised graveyard earth (09) was an extensive deposit consisting of sizeable fragments of animal bone with frequent charcoal flecks (10). This deposit was cut by a stone-lined pit (06), possibly a corn-drying kiln, partially exposed at the eastern edge of the trench and vertically disturbed by the engineering trench. This feature had been horizontally truncated and was backfilled with rubble and crushed mortar, with a trace of organic material below. A fragment of a clay-pipe stem was recovered from the rubble fill. The relative stratigraphic positions of the pit and the graves could not be determined because the layer of grave earth petered out short of the edge of the pit.

The animal bone deposit (10) overlay a sequence of three tip-lines of redeposited boulder clay, coded (13), (14) and (15) in reverse order of deposition. Together these comprised a thickness of c. 0.4m. The earliest (15), observed at the northern side of the engineering test-trench, overlay the iron-panned surface of the natural subsoil. The upper two deposits contained sparse flecks of charcoal and extended the full length of the main part of the trench. The regular distribution of charcoal suggested that this glacial drift material was redeposited. The true extent of deposits (13)–(15) cannot be ascertained at this stage. They extended for at least 4m north–south in CT 3 and to both of the long sides of the trench but were not found in CT 2 to the south or CT 4 to the north.

CT 4 measured c. 1.7m north–south by 0.8m and was excavated to a depth of 0.85m. The ground here was much disturbed, but some stratigraphy could be followed. At the northern end the footing of the north boundary wall was found. This contained fragments of red brick, indicating a post-medieval date for the boundary walls (all of which appeared to be of the same build). Most of material removed by excavation consisted of topsoil and post-medieval fill, similar to that found in all of the other trenches. Excavation was terminated when a thin layer of charcoal and animal-bone fragments (layer (10) in CT 3) was encountered. Beneath this (where it was partially scraped away by the blade of the machine) was a deposit of rounded stones in a matrix of sand. This was almost certainly the natural subsoil. Given the fairly regular slope upward from south to north, the natural would be expected to be at this depth (c. 0.9m below current ground level) at the northern extremity of the site.

CT 5 lay in the south-east part of the Orchard, about two-thirds of the way down the slope. This measured 1.4m north–south by 0.85m and was excavated to 2m below current ground level. The natural subsoil was encountered at 1.9m below ground, and the deposits above this closely resembled the later post-medieval, redeposited soil found in all of the cuttings beneath the current topsoil.

A brief survey of the stone walls was made. The boundary walls appear to be of 18th-century date and are probably those indicated on Rocque’s map of 1758. The imposing gateway in the west wall had been modified, probably in the early 19th century. The internal field fences probably date to the 19th century also.

In conclusion, the clay layers (13)–(15) in CT3 are unlikely to be natural: the natural subsoil in all other trenches comprised rounded stones and sand, and charcoal was present in the clay. This feature may constitute the truncated remains of an earthen vallum delineating the boundary of the pre-Norman monastic precinct of St Canice’s. It lies c. 12m south of the present precinct boundary. At a later stage the clay feature was buried by what looks like a mass disposal of butchery waste. This was cut by pit (06), probably of medieval date, and overlain by a homogeneous graveyard deposit, which produced no dating evidence; the sequence of these latter events is currently indeterminate. The pit was finally backfilled in the post-medieval period, on the evidence of the pipe stem. At this stage or a little later it appears that the boundary walls were erected, and, later again (late 18th/early 19th century), a vast quantity of topsoil was imported to provide a good depth of soil for the planting of fruit trees. Later still, the internal field fences were erected and the gateway to Coach Road was modified. Rocque’s map indicates a building in the extreme north-east corner of the site. A ruined cottage survives here, but time did not allow for it to be examined.

22 Lower Grange, Waterford