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

St. Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) is situated in the N of what was originally a c.1.2 acre precinct that contained the main graveyard for the town, as well as dwelling-houses for the chaplains, a hospital/almshouse (KK019-026100-) and at least one churchyard cross (no longer extant). The present graveyard occupies 0.8 acres (including the church) but excavations (described below in St. Mary's Lane and Kieran Street) indicate that its medieval extent was in the region of 1.2 acres in total area and it extended well outside its present 18th century boundary walls. Human skeletal remains were investigated in 2000 by Ken Hanley (00E0712) following their discovery during mechanical excavation of a pipe trench on St. Mary's Lane, 10m S of the S transept of St. Mary's Church (KK019-026115-) and outside (S of) the present early 18th-century boundary wall of the graveyard (Hanley 2001). The pipeline excavation had truncated at least 44 skeletons and a further two individuals were fully excavated archaeologically. Where it was possible to determine, the graves containing the burials had been dug into the underlying glacial boulder clay and were orientated E-W, with their heads to the W. A cursory osteological examination of the truncated skeletal remains on site identified 6 adult males, 4 adult females, 27 adults (sex unknown), 1 middle adult, 3 early adults (sex unknown), 1 sub-adult (sex unknown), 1 female (unknown age). The excavator dated the burial horizon to the medieval period based on the association of 13th-14th century pottery with some of the interments. A section of a fosse (c. 4m Wth and 0.5m D.) identified 27m S of the S transept was interpreted as a possible boundary feature for the S side of the medieval churchyard. Sections of a metalled surface, probably the medieval lane that linked High Street with the entrance to St. Mary's churchyard, were recorded at the W end of St. Mary's Lane. Here, a 13th/14th century graveslab which had been reused as a drain was also recovered. Excavation by Ian Doyle of an E-W linear pipe-trench in 2003 at St. Mary's Lane, 30m NW of St. Mary's church (KK019-026115-), uncovered 11 in-situ human skeletal burials, outside (N of) the graveyard boundary formed by the early 18th-century boundary wall and a pair of early 19th century almshouses (Doyle 2003, unpublished; 2007). Based on stratigraphy and medieval pottery associations three phases of burial was identified, an early?-mid 13th century phase, a mid-13th century phase and a mid 13th-early 14th century phase. Grave cuts were identified in relation to a number of the burials and there no evidence for coffin-use. Nine of the burials were extended inhumations orientated E-W with their heads to the W. One burial was orientated N-S and another was orientated E-W but with its head to the E. The skull of one burial was supported by stones. It was possible to determine the sex and age of five individuals: 4 males (1 young adult, 2 middle adults, 1 older adult), 1 female (1 young adult). The burial horizon was covered by a 17th-18th century make-up layer. Human skeletal remains found during excavations in 1977 for a basement at 88-90 High Street, 'Goods' department store, c. 40m SW of St. Mary's church, were reported to the National Museum of Ireland by the Gardaí (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 484-5). According to the Gardaí, two skulls and some other bones were found during the works. No further analysis of the burials was undertaken. According to the shop owner further burials were present and were placed beneath the floor of the basement. Portion of the NE part of the medieval graveyard excavated (06E0712) by Denis Shine in 2008-9 at 44-8 Kieran Street, 20m N of the site of the chancel of St Mary's church (KK019-026115-) (Cotter and Shine 2010, 14; Shine 2011, 210-12). A total of 74 articulated/partially articulated burials, along with large amounts of disarticulated human bone, were excavated from under the foundations of the present 18th-century NE boundary wall of St Mary's graveyard (KK019-026156-) and behind (W of) a retaining wall that had been constructed in front of this boundary following demolition c. 1970 of a terrace of houses that had occupied the site. The earliest burials recorded were cut into the natural slope of a hill that extended to the W bank of the River Nore and these were overlain by intercutting graves containing burials orientated E-W, with their heads to the W. No evidence for coffins was recovered and instead the remains were interred in simple pit graves. In the absence of radiocarbon dates the chronology of the burials is poorly understood but it is proposed by the excavator that they date to the medieval period (Shine 2011, 210-12). Osteological analysis of the skeletal assemblage by Dara Fleming-Farrell indicated an age at death distribution ranging from pre-natal to advanced adulthood, a relatively balanced sex ratio, and a generally healthy population (Fleming-Farrell 2018). Excavations (12E0314) in the graveyard of St. Mary's were conducted in 2015-16 as part of the works for the reconstruction of the church as the Medieval Mile Museum (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished; 2020). A cutting excavated at the present entrance to the churchyard, 15m SW of the 19th century W tower of the church, included the excavation of 11 burials and the recording in situ of a number of others. Stratigraphically, the earliest burial excavated, that of an 11-14 year old adolescent which had been interred in a simple grave-pit dug into the underlying glacial boulder clay, was dated to cal AD 1310-1420. Burial had ceased in the area by cal AD 1470-1640. All of the burials excavated were aligned NE-SW, with their heads to the SW. They appear to have been aligned on a cobbled pathway that led off of the High Street towards the church. Some intercutting of burials had occurred. There were six adults and five juveniles and no coffins were identified with any of the burials. Instead, winding cloths/shrouds appear to have been used as indicated by green staining and copper-alloy pins from most of the burials. Four skeletons, all juveniles orientated E-W with their heads to the W, were also excavated in the area immediately outside (N of) the demolished N wall of the chancel. The earliest burial, stratigraphically, was dated to cal AD 1470-1650. A stone-lined grave which had been placed in the angle of the W wall of the N transept and the N wall of the N aisle (demolished 1748-9) had been incorporated into the 17th century Rothe chantry chapel. The grave contained the skeleton of an encoffined male (age 45 +) radiocarbon dated to cal AD 1430-90. The individual had been buried E-W with the head to the E and underlay two other encoffined skeletons of elderly males of probable 17th century date. Extensive burial activity occurred within the church during the 18th century including the insertion of large family burial vaults, single-width stone-lined graves and earth-cut graves. Within the external graveyard the use of headstones and more elaborate Classical-style mural monuments, such as that commemorating William Colles (d. 1779), who had been contracted to undertake the rebuilding of the church, became commonplace from the early 1700s. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 10 January 2023