2008:714 - 71 John Street, Kilkenny, Kilkenny

Kilkenny Borough Council requested an impact assessment at the rear of No. 71 John Street, Kilkenny, as further information in advance of a decision on a planning application for a two-storey multi-functional area. The development site was situated within the medieval walled suburb of St John and adjacent to the early 13th-century Augustinian priory of St John. A number of wall and wall foundation features, probably of 18th- and 19th-century date, which may be associated with 19th-century milling and distilling activities at the rear of No. 71 John Street, were uncovered during the test excavations. These walls overlay an earlier layer of imported horticultural soil that was probably of medieval date. The foundations of the new building were redesigned to avoid an impact on the buried archaeology. Follow-on monitoring revealed nothing of archaeological significance.