Graveyard in Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Canice Par.)

Graveyard associated with the 13th-century Dominican 'Black' Abbey (KK019-026021-), which excavations indicate was centred in the area to the E and S of the church. The precise extent of the graveyard is unknown and it is not marked on the earliest accurate map of the area, Rocque’s map of 1758. Its SW limit was almost certainly defined by the abbey's substantial precinct wall, a section of which was excavated on the E side of Blackmill Street, to the SW of the church (Reid 1996, 11-12, unpublished). The boundary wall comprised of a truncated sloping N-S running base-batter (H 1.21.; Wth 1m) that probably defined the inner E edge of a substantial fosse (Wth. unknown). The outer W edge of the fosse was outside the excavation area and remains undefined. A further section of the precinct wall (Wth >1.5m) was uncovered 5m to the N of the Reid excavation by Frank Ryan in 2000 (Ryan 2000, unpublished; 2002). The S limit of the cemetery appears to have been defined by a stone boundary wall 50m S of the church, which was partially uncovered alongside human skeletal remains in test-excavations (17E0141), in the sloping garden of Blessed Felix House (Ó Drisceoil 2019, unpublished). Archaeological test-trenching, excavations and monitoring works (96E0047) conducted by Martin Reid for the Kilkenny Main Drainage Scheme between 1996-8 included the excavation of 261 individuals belonging to the graveyard (Reid 1996, unpublished; 1997). In the excavated cutting (L 70m; Wth 2-3m) through the carpark, c. 7m to the S of the abbey church, the nearest articulated remains were 5.5m from the SW precinct wall and the graveyard extended 61m to the E along the line of the pipe-trench. No direct dating of the burials has been undertaken but they are presumably of 13th to mid-16th-century date, although there is evidence for occasional burial up to the end of the 17th century. The majority of burials were orientated in a W-E position, with the head to the W, and there were occasional burials orientated SW-NE, NW-SE, and one juvenile was in a WNW-ESE position. Of the 261 burials identified, 181 (69%) were adults and 80 (31%) were juveniles and adolescents (Buckley 2014, 6). The adults consisted of 99 males (54.7%), 60 females (33.1%) and 22 (12.2%) of indeterminate sex. Over half the population (51.1%) had died before the age of 36 years and if all the middle adult categories are combined, the proportion of adults dying between the ages of 26-45 was 71.3%, nearly three-quarters of the population. The percentage of individuals reaching old age (46+) was very low at only 10.9%. Buckley concludes in relation to the population that, 'They appeared to enjoy a good diet, low in sugar and roughly ground carbohydrates, so possibly high in protein. Nutrition deficiencies were low and barring the occasional accident they seem to have enjoyed a relatively peaceful existence. They also seem to have avoided medical intervention with no obvious treatment given to broken bones. There was evidence that they worked hard and strenuous activity had contributed to vertebral degeneration. There may have been a strong genetic link among the population as anomalies in the vertebral column were common' (Buckley 2014, 55). An additional burial belonging to the S side of the graveyard were excavated in 1976 (KK019-026168-) by Raghnaill O Floinn, in this case a single male inhumation 35m S of the church (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 345–7). In 2000 at the rear of No. 13 Black Mill Street (00E0750), 45m SW of the church, 19 inhumations (11 adults, 2 sub-adults and 6 children) were excavated by Niall Gregory (Gregory 2000, unpublished). Within the area of the W side of the former medieval chancel (demolished in late 18th century), outside the present east window, excavations in 1977 revealed two stone-lined graves of late 16th/early 17th-century date as well as a quantity of disarticulated human bone (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 260-78). The coffins were stratified under a mortar floor which was set at the same level as the footings of the crossing tower, built 1527. Excavations on the W side of Abbey Street in 2000 by Frank Ryan uncovered three partial burials, one of which was interred in a stone-lined grave, inside the foundations of the E wall of the medieval chancel (Ryan 2000, unpublished; 2002). Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 22 March 2022