What is recorded here

Half an acre of forgotten people sleeps beneath Kilkenny streets, their bones aligned westward in shallow pits since the thirteenth century. When Claire Walsh cut through the soil on Barrack Lane in 2019, one hundred and fifty medieval lives emerged from the dark, still keeping the old Augustinian rhythm of St. John’s priory. The city walks above them now, unaware that every step presses against centuries of patient waiting.

Graveyard of the 13th-century Augustinian priory of St. John the Evangelist (KK019-026068-) presently occupying the walled area (0.5 acres) to S and E of the priory church and is defined by Michael Street in E, Barrack Lane in W and John Street in S. An archaeological excavation (C000414), carried out by Claire Walsh in 2019 of an area (L 27m; Wth 1.8m) running N-S on Barrack Lane, uncovered the skeletal remains of c. 150 individuals (Claire Walsh pers. comm.). The burials were all in simple pits and orientated E-W with their heads to the W. The burials have been dated to the medieval period, possibly the 13th and 14th centuries. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 4 April 2022

Medieval Christian burial ground; associated with a 13th-century Augustinian priory. Significance lies in its connection to monastic religious life and funerary practices in medieval Kilkenny.

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