County: Kilkenny Site name: Graiguenakill
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KK041–028 Licence number: 04E0791
Author: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil, Kilkenny Archaeology, Threecastles, Kilkenny.
Site type: Monastic enclosure
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 666257m, N 622199m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.347385, -7.027520
Monitoring was carried out on foot of a condition of planning for a single-house development at Graiguenakill, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny. Three archaeological sites lie within 250m of the proposed development area: a church and graveyard (KK041–028), a holy well (KK041–029) and a ringfort (site) KK041–030. Documentary and archaeological evidence pointed to there having been an ecclesiastical foundation dedicated to St Machoevog pre-dating the extant medieval church adjacent to the site. Testing of the development footprint in 2004 (Excavations 2004, No. 882) uncovered four areas of archaeological potential: a ditched enclosure that probably surrounded the monastic site in the 10th–12th century, two field ditches of 18th–19th-century date and a pit containing the waste from iron smelting. Following these discoveries, the layout of the development was redesigned to avoid the archaeological remains. Follow-up monitoring in 2006 revealed nothing of archaeological significance.
