What is recorded here

Beneath the Edwardian house at No. 23 James Street, medieval pits, a well, a smelting furnace and a burial still wait inside the ground. The rear yard holds two large stone-lined pits filled with Victorian domestic pottery, proving the land has continuously served human desire. Modern extensions now cover much of this layered evidence, forcing us to wonder which parts of Kilkenny’s daily life remain hidden beneath familiar streets.

No. 23 James Street is on the corner of James’s Street and Tilbury Place 20m NW of the site of St James's Gate on the town wall (KK019-026001-) of the Hightown of Kilkenny (Farrelly et al. 1993, 11; Munby and Tyler (Oxford Archaeology) 2003, 82-3). The plot is fronted by a three-storey Edwardian house (NIAH 12000035) with modern extensions to the rear. Two archaeological excavations have been carried out on the plot. Test excavations on the site by Paul Stevens (00E0730) identified medieval pits and deposits, a medieval well (KK 019-026194-), a smelting furnace (KK 019-026196-) and a burial (KK 019-026199-) (Stevens 2000, unpublished; 2002, 177-8; 2006, 47-66). A full excavation of the rear yard of the plot by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil (07E0059) identified further medieval pits and deposits and two large stone-lined pits containing house clearance deposits of Victorian domestic pottery (Ó Drisceoil 2008, unpublished). Much of the archaeology was preserved in situ beneath the foundations of the new builds. See attached photograph. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 3 November 2020

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