2021:514 - Jenkinstown, Kilkenny

Archaeological monitoring was undertaken of ground works associated with the provision of three Shepherds Huts at Jenkinstown House, Jenkinstown, Co. Kilkenny. These works were archaeologically monitored due to the closeness of a recorded monument in the County Kilkenny RMP. The monument, Jenkinstown House, was the home of the Bryan family since 1650. The present-day three-storey house was built in the mid-nineteenth century. There is no evidence to suggest that the house incorporates the seventeenth-century structure.
An aspect of the project required sub-surface works: the laying of new piping to connect the three Shepherd Huts to the existing waste treatment system. These works required trenching in excess of 40m within the confines of the grounds of the eighteenth/nineteenth-century house. In excess of half of the trenching extended on higher ground to the rear and gable of Jenkinstown House, a 10m section extended down a steep grassed scarp whilst the remainder extended from the base of the scarp across a level lawn, terminating at an existing manhole.
Extensive demolition material was uncovered beneath the surfaces in the trench to the rear of the house. This material was probably deposited to form a trunking layer to raise levels and likely to be from the time of demolition of the north-eastern wing of Jenkinstown House.

The scarp to the north-east/east of the house was man-made, comprising imported topsoil with a drainage network bringing surface water from the rear of the house to a manhole at the lower levels in front of the house. At the base of the scarp, within the lower level of the trench, traces of a natural deposition comprising a yellow/brown clay was exposed. This scarp is located on the site of the demolished north-eastern wing of Jenkinstown House. There was practically no demolition material on the scarp, in contrast to that found in the trench excavated at the rear of the house.

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