County: Kilkenny Site name: St Mary's Graveyard, St Mary's Lane, Kilkenny
Sites and Monuments Record No.: KK019-026156 Licence number: C480; E4358
Author: Patrick J.H. Neary
Site type: Urban medieval/ecclesiastical complex
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 650590m, N 655894m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.651875, -7.252333
The site at St Mary’s dates from the late 12th/early 13th century and is located in the centre of Kilkenny behind the Tholsel on High Street. When consent was granted for short-term improvement works that would enable public access to the graveyard, a condition was attached requiring monitoring of the works.
The unblocking of a Tudor-style gate revealed that there was a difference in levels between the surface of Mary’s Lane and the new raised footpath that was to be laid out inside the graveyard, and this necessitated the installation of three new steps between the two surfaces.
The excavation of the area between the gate and the path (1.8m x 1.3m) exposed what is probably a late 16th-century cobbled surface on which the enclosing wall containing the Tudor-style gateway was built, presumably in the early 17th century.
The ground traversed by the new steps contained disturbed cobblestones and typical grave-fill material. Medieval and post-medieval pottery, an array of disarticulated human and animal bones and teeth, glass, plastic and some metal objects were also found.
24 Talbot’s Inch Village, Freshford Road, Kilkenny
