2007:971 - 45 Parliament Street, Kilkenny, Kilkenny

Test excavation was undertaken in a garden at the rear of 45 Parliament Street in October 2007 in advance of the submission of a planning application. The property is located on the east side of Parliament Street at the junction of the Market Yard; the garden to the rear of the property runs along the south-facing side wall of the Kilkenny Courthouse (a protected structure), facing on to the Market Yard (Dunnes Stores Carpark).
The property lies within the registered core of the medieval walled town of Kilkenny (KK019–026). It is understood that garden plots in this area were laid out as early as the 13th century. The area proposed for development lies within such a medieval garden plot, though the present garden was not enclosed until the 19th century.
The proposed development covers an area of c. 130m2 including the back garden of No. 45 Parliament Street and an area of what is the present public footpath to the south of the property. This area of the footpath was not available for test assessment.
Three trenches were opened in the garden area. Three wall foundations were exposed, crossing the site on a north to south alignment. The westernmost wall was a concrete, stone and brick foundation of late 19th/early 20th-century date. The two other walls appeared to form a tunnel or culvert of rubble masonry construction, measuring c. 1m wide and whitewashed on the interior. Large stone slabs removed from between the walls probably formed the roof or lid of the culvert or tunnel. This 18th/19th-century structure was exposed 0.7m below the ground surface, and continued towards the Courthouse under the property boundary wall.
Natural soil was exposed at two locations at a depth of between 0.9m and 1.3m below the ground, sloping from west to east. No medieval structures, deposits or artefacts were found during testing. However, the garden lies within a medieval burgage plot boundary and settlement evidence may exist elsewhere on the site.