2006:1054 - KILKENNY: McDonagh Station, Highhays, Dublin Road, Kilkenny

Excavations at McDonagh station took place in the summer of 2006 prior to the redevelopment of the site as a shopping centre and hotel complex. The site had been identified during monitoring of preparatory groundworks (05E0435). Positioned 200m outside the line of the town walls, the excavations here uncovered a previously unidentified suburb of medieval Kilkenny, which dated from the period c. 1200–1350. It contained a series of burgage plots with evidence for grain processing, horticulture and industrial activities. The highlight of the excavations, however, was a pottery kiln, the first such discovery in County Kilkenny. The kiln was double-flued with adjacent stoke-pits and used to manufacture the type of wheel-thrown pottery that is frequently found on excavation sites in the city. South of the kiln was a complex of pits, sheds and stands that together formed a potter’s yard.

Nine thousand finds were retrieved from the site, the majority of which were pottery sherds. Fine metal artefacts were also recovered, including ring-brooches, an ear scoop, a spur rowel, decorated buckles and a decorated mount. At the time of writing the post-excavation project is under way and it is envisaged that full publication of the site will occur in 2008.