2005:838 - RATHDUFF: Kells Priory, Kilkenny

Monitoring of the removal of material from the garderobe chute at Prior’s Tower, Kells Priory, Co. Kilkenny, was requested by the Office of Public Works and carried out on 9–10 May 2005. The works formed part of the OPW conservation and restoration project at Kells Priory. The chute is part of a 15th-century structure located within an earlier ecclesiastical complex.

It was necessary to excavate a small area directly in front of the garderobe chute egress to facilitate works. The area had been excavated to substratum by Tom Fanning during his excavations in the 1980s and subsequently backfilled. A dark-brown silty clay with occasional small to medium-sized stones, animal bone, pieces of metal and plastic represented this activity. Beneath this layer was a bioturbated interface layer; it was a mixture of the underlying substratum and the overlying overburden and was an orangey-brown silty clay with occasional animal bone. The substratum was a yellowy-orange sandy clay reached at a depth of 0.4m.

The garderobe chute contained only one fill, an unstratified dump layer. It was a dark greyish-brown silty clay with frequent medium to large chunks of limestone, moderate amounts of animal bone, occasional pieces of medieval floor tiles, bottle glass, clay-pipe bowls and stems, two disarticulated pieces of human bone and modern plastic refuse probably introduced by animal activity.

All materials removed from the garderobe chute were unstratified and from finds analysis date from the 13th–14th centuries right up to the 20th century. It was evident from the mixed up, unstratified nature of the material that it had been dumped, perhaps with the deliberate intention of blocking the chute due to the large amount of stone it also contained. Medieval floor tiles with mortar still adhering to them indicated they had been set and laid previously. Kiln material may indicate local production of ceramics.

A similar finds assemblage was discovered during excavations within the tower by Miriam Clyne in the 1990s and this was attributed to later reuse of the tower and surrounding buildings as farm buildings/dwellings (Excavations 1996, No. 217, 96E0092). The tower is also known as Pilib na mBonn’s castle, after a recluse cobbler that lived there in the 18th–19th centuries (Harbison 1995), and it is probable that some of the material recovered from the chute is associated with this occupation.

Reference
Harbison, P. 1995 Shell Guide to Ireland. Gill & Macmillan.

Threecastles, Co. Kilkenny