2004:0896 - KILKENNY: 21–22 High Street, Kilkenny

A planning application was submitted to Kilkenny Borough Council for alterations, demolitions and additions, etc., to the present ground-floor restaurant area. The proposed development lies within the city walls of Kilkenny and is within both the zone of archaeological potential, as identified in the Record of Monuments and Places, and the boundaries of the St Mary's conservation area, as defined in the Kilkenny County Development Plan 2002. The rear yard of the building contains the shell of an Elizabethan mansion, the front elevation of which forms the southern property boundary. This building is a National Monument and protected structure and 21–22 High Street is a protected structure.

The main building is named as St Mary's Glebe House on the 1842 OS and is therefore associated with St Mary's Church to the east of the Tholsol. A preliminary assessment carried out in 1999 suggests that it was the church authorities that carried out significant alterations to the house in the mid-18th and turn of the 19th centuries (Murtagh 1999).

Testing in the yard area was carried out along the line of the foundations of the proposed new kitchen block. The trenches were excavated to subsoil level, as no archaeological deposits were encountered. Subsoil occurred at a depth of between 1.2m and 1.5m below the yard surface level. A poorly constructed stone-built wall was encountered at the eastern end of Trench 1, 1.5m east of quoins at the western end of the medieval structure. It comprised randomly placed angular stones of up to 0.3m, interspersed with red-brick fragments and thinly bonded with soft pale-yellowish lime-based mortar.

Trench 2 was excavated perpendicular to Trench 1, from the western end. A substantial east-west-oriented wall was located centrally along Trench 2. Comprised of well-built random coursed large and medium-sized angular blocks, it lay immediately below the cobble layer. It was bonded with a white lime-based mortar containing fine to medium gravel and possibly runs the full length of the available yard area, although the eastern and western extents were not established. The date is unknown and no datable artefacts were found on, under or about the wall.

Reference
Murtagh, B. 1999 Report concerning a preliminary archaeological assessment carried out upon No. 21–22 High Street, Kilkenny, containing Uncle Sam's restaurant. Submitted to Kilkenny Borough Council as part of previous planning application.

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