Indicated — Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Mary’s Par.)

The late 16th/early 17th-century house (NIAH 12000025) known as 'Rothe House' is situated on the W side of Parliament Street. It occupies the frontage of a rectangular walled enclosure (dims. 60m E-W; 15m N-S) that extends 157m W from Parliament Street as far as the line of the medieval town wall (KK019-026001-). Within the enclosure three rectangular houses are arranged parallel to each other, all rising to two storeys with dormer attics. To the rear of each of the houses is a courtyard, the largest situated between the second and third houses. Side-buildings known as ‘out-scales’ link the houses together, enabling ease of access to all areas of the complex. Though a full architectural survey and assessment of the Rothe House has not yet been undertaken, numerous general accounts of the site have appeared in print (Graves 1849, 41-47; Graves and Prim 1859, 322-331; Carrigan 1905, Vol. 3, 76-9; Lanigan 1967). A buildings archaeology assessment of the second house has been completed by Ben Murtagh (1994, Unpublished). The 2002 Rothe House Conservation Plan also provides a useful overview (Ozmin et. al. 2002, 21-32). The house complex and its garden plot to its rear have been the subject of a number of archaeological excavations, as outlined below. A plaque on the façade to Parliament street records the year 1594, which is thought to refer to the date the first of the three houses was completed. A medieval house (KK019-026215-), belonging to the Cistercians of Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamangh, occupied the site until the dissolution of the monastery in the 1540s, following which it became the property of John Rothe (Burtchaell 1886, 629-31; Curtis 1943, no. 89). The first house has an arcaded ground-floor façade to the street, which would have originally acted as a covered walkway that extended along the street frontage to the N and S; behind it were shops, with cellars for storage beneath. A gable crowned by an octagonal chimney forms the central axis of the house. The main reception hall of the mansion was over the shops and the servant’s quarters were situated in the attic storey. An elaborate well and cistern on the S side of the second courtyard bears an inscription on its pediment which translates from Latin as, ‘1604 Pray for the souls of John Rothe merchant and his wife Rose Archer who built this structure’. The well also acted as a cistern, being fed by rainwater from an elaborate stone-gulley system that runs along the S elevations of the first and second houses. The date of 1604 on the well has been taken to infer the year in which the second house was finished, though it is more likely this refers solely to the well and given the limited space available in the first house the second house was probably built shortly after the first house (Lanigan 1967, 4). The second house contained the master bedroom on the N and the remainder was taken up with the apartments of John Rothe FitzPiers's wife, Rose Archer, as well as a secondary kitchen. An archway runs through the house giving access into the second courtyard. 1610 has been long suggested as the year when the third and westernmost house of the complex was finished (Lanigan 1967, 7). However, this is based on the occurrence of this date on a stone plaque that was found rebuilt into the wall beside well, and it may not necessarily be associated with the house (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 79). Interestingly, John Rothe’s will of 1619 refers to the third house as his ‘new house’, perhaps indicating a slightly later date than 1610 (Healy 1893, 383). The chief kitchen, known as the 'great kitchen', was located here, as was the bakery, brew house, storage rooms and servant’s sleeping quarters. The children’s rooms are thought to have been positioned on the floors above. A small rectangular courtyard to the rear (W) of the third house contained a series of work-areas and sheds. The 1654 Civil Survey records a total of 26 rooms between the three houses of the complex, making it a quite substantial dwelling (Simington 1942, 504). To put it in perspective the largest houses noted in the Civil Survey, both on High Street, are that of Edward Fitzgerald which had forty-one rooms and the Archer mansion which had forty rooms (Simington 1942, 503). All of the rooms at Rothe House would have been open-plan, heated by large fireplaces and with oak wainscoting throughout. Elaborate stucco plasterwork would have decorated the ceilings and internal walls; much of the panelling and plasterwork survived until at least the late 19th century (Lanigan 1967, 13). John Rothe made his will ten months prior to his death in January 1620. Though the original will was destroyed in 1922, a transcription was made by Burtchaell and reproduced in Healy’s History and Antiquities of Kilkenny (Burtchaell 1886, 630-31; Healy 1893, 381-396; Lanigan 1963). This document provides invaluable information on how the rooms of the house functioned, as well as a unique insight into its contents and furnishing, for example it describes '... all my drawing tables, bedsteads, cupboards, livery cupboards, virginals, wainscot, ioynt-stools, chairs, my great cipresse chest and cipresse counter... my pewter, brass, batry, iron beddings of feathers and flocks…sey greene hangings or curtyns of both my best bedsteads, in addition to plate, diaper, Holland and linen' (Healy 1893, 381-396). John Rothe died January 31st 1620 and was buried in his chantry chapel at St. Mary’s, Kilkenny (KK019-026115-). When the church was modified in 1820 his Renaissance-style mural monument (KK019-026343-) was moved and reconstructed in its current location in the graveyard perimeter wall to the N of the N transept. John Rothe’s son, Peter Rothe, fitz John was named heir to the house in John Rothe’s will and was in possession of it 1640 according to the Civil Survey (Simington 1942, 504). In 1654, Peter was transplanted to Connaught along with 25 other prominent Kilkenny individuals and he died shortly after (Carrigan 1905, Vol. 3, 45; Lanigan 1967, 8). It was Captain Thomas Evans of the Parliamentary army who was granted most of the houses in the vicinity of Parliament Street and the Black Abbey; Evan’s Lane, which runs along the S side of the Rothe House garden bears his name. Although we have no direct evidence to support the claim, it may have been him who took possession of the Rothe House in 1654 (Bradley 2006, Appendix 2). Following the 1660 Restoration the details surrounding ownership of Rothe House are somewhat vague. According to Lanigan, Peter Rothe’s daughter Rose became heiress to the house on the death of John Rothe’s son Peter, and Rose’s son Marcus Shee of Walsheshays or Sheestown was in possession of the site in 1690 (Lanigan 1967, 8). Rothe House does not appear to be specifically mentioned in the schedule of properties surrendered by Kilkenny Corporation to the Duke of Ormond in 1677 but the Ormonds were certainly in possession in 1701 when it was leased by the second Duke to one Abel Butler (O’Dwyer 1994, 12; Booklet of Title to Rothe House; Bradley 2006, Appendix 2). In 1727 a lease was drawn up between Thomas Butler and William Johnson for the house (O’Dwyer 1994, 12). In 1735 the Kilkenny Corporation minutes record the construction of New Building Lane and refer to Rothe House as being still in the possession of Thomas Butler (Corporation Minutes 19.2.1735 (p. 93)) and the Butlers were also still in possession in 1793 (Finn’s Leinster Journal 17.8.1793). John Rocque’s 1758 Survey of the City of Kilkenny contains the earliest plan known of the Rothe House and garden although it shows the house complex, it is rather schematic. In 1811 the house was let by Mary Butler of Pottlerath to Andrew Wolfe who ran a private school in the house (Leinster Journal 9.3.1811; O’Dwyer 1994, 12; Ozmin et.al. 2002, 25). In 1835 Rothe House and its gardens were advertised for sale following a court order (Kilkenny Moderator 3.1.1835). Around this time the 1st (1839-40) e