2003:1027 - KILKENNY: Troy's Gate/Green Street, Kilkenny

Testing was carried out at the site of a proposed apartment development at the corner of Troy’s Gate/Green Street in the north half of the medieval borough of Irishtown. This site is located along one of the possible circuits of the medieval town wall. Four trenches were opened. The stratigraphy revealed consisted of a modern tarmac surface overlying an earlier yard surface that was composed of round cobbles at the east and flat paving stones at the west. This yard surface contained occasional sherds of modern pottery and overlay a 0.5m-thick layer of loose rubble containing limestone fragments, brick and lime mortar. A number of sherds of modern pottery were recovered from this layer and it also contained a fragment of a medieval hand-milling stone mortar. The stratigraphy encountered indicated that the ground level in the site was substantially raised through the introduction of a stony layer, which contained frequent river-rolled cobbles and building rubble, including brick fragments. Similar stone fills have been recorded on a number of excavations in the Irishtown area of Kilkenny. Their purpose appears to have been to raise this area above the floodwaters of the rivers Breagagh and Nore. The rubble layer at this site appeared to have been deposited in the 19th century and it overlay the natural subsoil, which ranged between 0.6 and 1.5m below modern ground level.

There was no trace of the medieval town wall, Troy’s Gate, nor were any identifiable medieval layers recorded. The absence of the town wall in this area may support the theory that the wall turned to the north-east at St Canice’s Cathedral and that Troy’s Gate is located in the north end of Troy’s Gate Street. However, elements of the wall and gate may also remain below ground level in the carpark area located immediately to the west of the development site. This area will not be impacted on by this development.

AE House, Monahan Road, Cork