2002:1016 - KILKENNY: Dean’s Court, Irishtown, Kilkenny

Excavation of an industrial complex was carried out in August and September 2002. The work formed part of archaeological mitigation of the River Nore (Kilkenny City) Drainage Scheme. Proposed development included the removal of up to 6m of the northern riverbank of the Breagagh. Excavation followed extensive testing of the banks of the Breagagh (Excavations 2000, No. 535, 00E0406) and revealed four phases of activity on the site, dating from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century.

The earliest datable deposit on the site was a thick, organic silt found immediately below river-bank material and above what is interpreted as gravels from an earlier and much wider river channel. This deposit contained two fragments of 13th–14th-century ceramic and was interpreted as the natural formation of a marsh along the river’s edge before any artificial revetment or riverbank formation.

Phase I represented features shown on Rocque’s map of 1758 and consisted of a stone-lined tanning pit (part of a long, north–south-oriented, roofed building), a cobbled alleyway leading to the river from Dean Street, and the river wall. The pit was only partially exposed, 2.2m+ long, extending north into the baulk; it was 3.35m wide and 1.3m deep, filled by layers associated with tanning (pure slaked lime, sandy silt with a very strong fishy odour, and an organic-rich deposit of twigs and bark). The river wall was constructed to revet the existing riverbank and built in conjunction with a low wooden fence. A second, parallel building fronting the river was also found.

Phase 2 was dated cartographically to 1758–1842 and included a keyhole-shaped corn-drying kiln, with brick-lined flue and earthen bowl, measuring 1.5m in length, 0.7m in bowl diameter, 0.3m in flu width and 0.3m in bowl depth, filled with layers of ash and cinders. Associated with this was a partially preserved cobbled surface. This kiln was also annotated on the 1872 revision of the first-edition OS map as a ‘Corn Kiln’ and may have been associated with the neighbouring malt-house or distillery across the river. New river walls were built at this time, reclaiming land from the river.

Phase 3 was dated to 1842–1901. This revealed further structural changes across the entire site, including the yard of a 19th-century Magdalen laundry, which later formed part of the workhouse. Later in the 19th century, large-scale remodelling took place across the site, which involved demolition of the tanning pit, the rubble of which sealed the organic material and lime used during the tanning process. A deposit of domestic and industrial debris sealed most of the site, containing large quantities of mid-19th-century glass bottles, clay-pipe fragments and a fine bone-handled toothbrush.

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