Market-house in Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Mary’s Par.)

Site of the 'old' tholsel, presently occupied by the Allied Irish Bank building (NIAH 12001017), which was itself converted, and probably originally extended, in 1921 from the early 19th-century Victoria Hotel establishment (Farrelly et al. 1993, 38-9; Bradley 2000, 15, 20). This tholsel, or Market House, is first referred to as a 'Stallage house' in the 1307 extent of the estate of the deceased Joan of Acre, Countess of Gloucester (Sweetman 1886, 187) and in 1383 it was the venue for the town hundred court (McNeill 1931, 67). A stone tholsel had been completed by 1507 and a 'great chamber' and stone gate were added to it before 1517 (McNeill 1931, 132, 138-9). A new tholsel was built in 1578 150m to its N on the E side of High Street, elements of which are incorporated into the present largely 18th-century tholsel building (KK019-026061-).The 'old Tholsel' continued to function under Corporation ownership for about a century and was eventually knocked c. 1795 (Hogan 1884, 270-4). John Rocque's 1758 survey of Kilkenny depicts it prior to its removal as part of a solid block of buildings between Pudding Lane and High Street. Rocque also shows the rear (W) plot of the old tholsel occupied by a building in the E and a walled garden/yard extending to a building range that flanks the town wall to the W. According to John Hogan a section of the old Tholsel was still visible in the back (W) wall of the Victoria Hotel in the late 19th century (Hogan 1880, 242). This, however, was demolished in 1921 when the present Allied Irish Bank building was erected. Elements of the basement level, which was utilised as the city gaol, of the old tholsel may be incorporated into the cellars below the present bank building (Hogan 1880, 242). Excavations in advance of construction of the current multi-storey carpark and leisure centre on Ormonde Street by Judith Carroll (97E0468; Areas 1, 3, 5) included the plot to the rear of the site of the old tholsel, which extended 130m W from Pudding Lane to the town wall (Carroll 2000, 121-3; 2002, unpublished). The excavation recorded a high density of medieval stone-lined and unlined pits, hearths, slot-trenches for earth-fast sill-beam structures, ditches and fence-lines for burgage plots that preceded the walled plot-lines depicted on Rocque's map (ibid.). Metalworking areas and dumps of metalworking waste in large pits were also recorded, much of it probably relating to the 'common forge' (KK019-026197-) of the medieval town which was probably located directly to the S of the old tholsel at Nos 1-2 High Street. Six human burials were also documented in the plot and they may be associated with the early 17th-century Hospital of Our Blessed Saviour (KK019-026046-) that was located directly to the N of the old tholsel. Substantial quantities of Kilkenny-type and Highhays Ware pottery of 13th/14th-century date and imports of Saintonge pottery, Ham Green B and Redcliffe were recovered, including a near-complete pot, cup and jug. Post-medieval features excavated within the plot included horticultural drainage slots, numerous pits and walls for out-buildings. Excavations ceased at the formation level of the present multi-storey carpark development and significant archaeological features thus remain in situ below this level. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 14 December 2020