Excavation — miscellaneous in Gardens (kilkenny City By., St. Patrick's Par.)

Pits excavated in a series of former burgage plots that extended 130m W from the rear of 30-33 Lower Patrick Street to the town wall. No. 30 Lower Patrick Street incorporates medieval architectural features (KK019-026097-) and the present early 19th-century houses at 31-2 High Street (NIAH 12001022 and 12001021) may also contain fabric of similar age. The houses are traditionally associated with the Rothes, one of the ruling families of the medieval/early modern town. John Rocque's 1758 map of Kilkenny depicts three walled burgage plots extending from the rear of substantial house-complexes at 30-33 Lower Patrick Street. Excavations by Judith Carroll (97E0468, Areas 2, 6) in the rear burgage plot in advance of the development of the present Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel and an extension to the rear (W) of the Hibernian Hotel (97E0468 Area 6 and 98E0402) (Carroll 1999, unpublished; 2000, 118-20; 2000, 120-21; 2000, 121-3; 2002, unpublished) uncovered a palisade trench running NNW-SSE that defined a roughly rectangular area extending 40m E-W from the town wall and 40m N-S, as well as a series of substantial fosses, pits and linear fosses of medieval date, as well as post-medieval pits. The excavator suggested the NNW stretch of the palisade trench may have acted to define the rear (W) of the medieval burgage plots that ran off of Lower Patrick Street, with the area between it and the town wall being open commonage (Carroll 2002, unpublished, 36). A pair of post-medieval pits (D < 2m) were also excavated and a circular stone-built well, a rectangular stone-built pit feature, metalled surfaces and wall foundations were sealed beneath a thick layer (D 0.5-0.75m) of imported horticultural soil. On the SE of the site archaeological layers were exposed but were preserved in situ beneath a layer of geo-textile. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 14 December 2020