2007:961 - Green Street, Newpark, Kilkenny, Kilkenny

The local authority, in co-operation with the developer of a new mixed development at Troy’s Gate, decided to install a new system of discharging storm-water and separating it from the sewage. The new line involved the construction of underground chambers and manholes which ran along the east side of Green Street where houses were demolished when the road to the bridge was rebuilt in 1947. The work took place in November–December 2007. The area affected by the work is in close proximity to Green’s Bridge and Troy’s Gate, and is overlooked by St Canice’s Cathedral, which dates from the 13th century, but occupies a site that was of significant importance much further back in time. In former times this was on the main route taken by coaches from Dublin to Cork and there was a hotel or coach house in the building that is still extant at the end of Green Street where the bridge was located before it was washed away in 1763.
Foundations of the demolished houses on Green Street were exposed, including the previous road surface and possibly the surface of a lane leading to the corner of Green’s Bridge Mill. Beneath these foundations there was a deposit of dark silty river mud. Animal bones, including two horse pelvis bones, and large laths of worked wood lying horizontally were found within this layer. It is hoped that further analysis will provide dates for these items that will show further evidence regarding the time of land reclamation at this location.