Indicated

Occupying the rear of no. 17 High Street, Kilkenny, within the walls of the Hightown of Kilkenny and on the chief thoroughfare of the Anglo-Norman town, 55m SW of the site of the medieval market cross. A late 16th-century-house, consisting of a number of buildings divided by courtyards, was built by Martin Archer, whose armorial plaque (KK019-026179-) adorns the front of the building, bearing his coat of arms and the date 1582. The main house (KK019-026049-), on the street frontage, was linked to an inner house via a link-building (Ó Drisceoil 2008, unpublished; 2009, unpublished; 2010, 254; 2012, 210). It was probably originally the main service and kitchen area of the late 16th-century complex and was converted in the mid-1700s into 'the Hole in Wall' supper-club, which continued in use for about a century. A detailed account of the events and personalities that frequented the place is to be found in Conway (2001, 6-24). Major structural alterations would have been required to change the dwelling into a supper-house and there are signs of these today in the brick fireplaces and reset chimney on the N side of the inner house. The S side of the ruined inner house was restored as a public house and venue in 2001-8; the N side remains roofless and semi-ruinous. Original features include, in the W wall, a single-light window with chamfered jambs at ground-floor level, four two-light three-centred windows with hood-mouldings at first-floor level and a cut-stone octagonal chimney mid-way along the northernmost portion, with a broach-stop terminating four opposing angles resting on the square base and projecting mouldings at the top. There is a round-headed doorway in a cross-wall at ground level. In the S gable there is a large polished limestone depressed three-centred fireplace with chamfered surround at ground-floor level, two four-centred two-light windows with hood-moulding at attic level and the gable is surmounted by a square chimney (Farrelly et al. 1993, 42; Conway 2001, 8, 12, 15, 17, 20) Late 16th to 18th-century floors and culverts were uncovered in test-excavations (07E0910) and monitoring (07E0684) by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil (Ó Drisceoil 2008; 2009; 2010; 2012). Archaeological monitoring (07E0684) of ground reduction and services installation for the restoration of the S side of the inner house uncovered a cobbled yard surface between the rear (W) of the building and its walled garden. A beaten-earth sub-floor of the building, probably the original late 16th-century floor, was revealed sealed beneath a later culvert and flagstone paving, the later possibly relates to its use as a tavern (Ó Drisceoil 2009, unpublished; 2012, 210). Test-excavation in the N side of the inner house (07E0910) revealed the E face of a N-S orientated dividing wall within the building and the continuation of the flagstone floor over a make-up deposit containing what appears to have been waste (18th-century bottle-glass, clay-pipes, coins and tokens) from the tavern (Ó Drisceoil 2008; 2010). All of the features remain preserved in situ. After lying derelict and partially roofless for many years, the building was reopened as a pub in 2009 following conservation work. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 4 November 2020