2008:722 - Troy’s Lane, Kilkenny, Kilkenny

Monitoring of groundworks was carried out in February 2008 to facilitate the laying of a Bord Gáis Éireann pipeline. The site of the new pipeline was located in the north-western end of Kilkenny city, along a laneway known as Troy’s Lane. This site is located within the zone of archaeological potential for Kilkenny city (KK019–026), just north-east of St Canice’s Cathedral. The cathedral stands on the site of the early medieval monastic foundation which lent its name to Kilkenny. The site of the pipeline is also located just west of the site of Troy’s Gate, the most northerly of the medieval defences of Irishtown and Kilkenny.
Two different processes were used to insert the pipeline. From Church Lane in the west to the point where Loreto Park meets Troy’s Lane the pipeline was inserted into a standard open-cut trench c. 0.5–1m wide and 0.7m deep, which was excavated by a JCB fitted with a toothed bucket. The remaining sections of the pipeline were inserted using a horizontal drilling technique. This entailed the excavation of a series of box-trenches by a JCB, which measured c. 1m long, 0.8m wide and 0.7m deep. A drill was inserted into the gas pipe and then lowered into the base of a box-trench. The new gas main was then threaded between box-trenches using the horizontal drilling process.
The stratigraphy noted along the length of the pipeline consisted of an upper layer of tarmacadam which sealed the lower deposits, comprising made-up ground and/or post-medieval backfill. Fragments of red brick, cobbles, stones and animal bones were mixed throughout the fill. Service trenches were also visible in some parts of the open-cut trench.
No archaeological features or deposits were identified during the monitoring programme, though a modern culvert or tunnel was identified within the pipe trench.