County: Kilkenny Site name: Patrick Street and Chapel Avenue, Kilkenny
Sites and Monuments Record No.: N/A Licence number: 18E0197
Author: Sean Shanahan & Marion Sutton, Shanarc Archaeology
Site type: Urban post-medieval
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 650647m, N 655625m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 52.649456, -7.251526
Monitoring took place of excavations associated with water mains rehabilitation work on Patrick Street Lower (between Ormonde Street and Ormonde Road) and on Chapel Avenue in Kilkenny city.
Excavations included digging mains trenches in road carriageway in Patrick Street Lower and on Chapel Avenue, and a series of connection trenches in road carriageway and in footpaths, generally c. 0.45m in width and 0.6m in depth, to the locations of water service boxes inserted outside building footprints.
The mains trench on Patrick Street Lower was excavated to a depth of 1.3m and a width of 0.75m. A post-medieval drainage system, comprising slab capstones resting on a pair of low stone walls, with a concave cobbled base, was identified.
At the junction of Patrick Street and Ormonde Street, a heavily disturbed limestone wall (c. 0.6m in width) aligned north-north-east/south-south-west was exposed 0.6m below the road surface. The wall extended to the base of the trench 1.09m below the road surface. It is aligned on a second section of wall exposed beneath the footpath outside No. 1 High Street. This wall comprised mortared brick and stone upper layers (a possible later addition or re-build), above two courses of angular and rounded limestone rock. Measuring 1.9m long, 0.3m wide and 0.56m high the wall remains in situ, 0.28m below the footpath level. The wall is associated with a compact, stone surface 0.97m below the footpath level, and has been interpreted as likely culvert remains.
Cobble surface remains were noted at two water service box locations, 0.53m below the surface at No. 30 Patrick Street and 0.49m below the surface at No. 25 Patrick Street. The latter is associated with a thin (c. 0.06m) charcoal-rich black deposit directly overlying the cobblestones.
The mains trench on Castle Avenue was excavated to a depth of 1.2m and a width of 0.47m, running approximately east-west on the south side of the street. Two post-medieval drainage systems were exposed c. 0.2-0.3m below the current road level, a slab stone culvert aligned north-north-west/south-south-east outside No. 5 Chapel Avenue, and a slab stone culvert aligned parallel with the street. A layer of cobblestones was exposed 0.6m below the current road level, which overlay a stone-filled pit containing fragmented animal bone at the east end of the street.
Unit 39a Hebron Business Park, Hebron Road, Kilkenny
