Indicated — Gowran,gowran Demesne

On a gentle W-facing slope. A short length of a stream runs along the SW angle of the town, part of a tributary of the River Barrow, which flows S of the town, reaching the Barrow c. 5km to the E. Kilkenny city (KK019-026----) is located 12km to the WNW. The medieval town was roughly rectangular (area c. 12-19 hectares) organised on an E-W axis with burgage plots running from the main street N and S to the town defences (KK020-060003-), though the length of the plots on the S side appear to have been less, possibly as they backed onto the castle demesne. The N line of the town defences had been preserved in the N properties boundary, as indicated on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map and 1900 revision. These survived relatively intact up until the mid 1990s, however, subsequent expansion of housing developments along the N side of the town has obscured the N line of the town defences. The only murage grant known for Gowran is referred to in the Patent Rolls, stating that in 1415, ‘The town of Balygaveran, in the county of Kilkenny, in the marshes of the said Co., being situated far from any English aid, and being surrounded by Irish enemies who have lately burned it and destroyed the lieges therein, and daily threaten to do so again, the King grants it burgesses and commons, to assist them in surrounding their town with a stone wall, paving their streets, and doing other necessary works, the privilege of taking, for the term of forty years, such tolls and customs as were taken in the town of Kilkenny by royal charter, rendering all accounts thereof before the Earl of Ormond and not to the Treasury’ (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 400; chancery.tcd.ie/document/patent/https://chancery.tcd.ie/document/patent/5-henry-v/165; accessed 9 March 2021). A 1710/11 map of the town shows the town with its defences, gates, houses and property boundaries. ‘The Rampart or Trench’ is indicated forming the N line of the town defences, while ‘THE TOWN WALL’, forming the S boundary, is indicated running NW-SE from Gowran Castle (KK020-060004-) to the edge of the town, opposite the inner gate (White 1710/11). Three town gates are indicated, the ‘Magdalan Gate’ at the E end of the town, the ‘West Gate’ at the W end and an internal ‘Gate’ at the E end of the market place (ibid.). A rental account of Gowran in the Calendar of Ormond Deeds, c. 1550, mentions a total of seven town gates, referred to as ‘barr’ or ‘barre’ including, ‘Maugdelin barre’, ‘Castell barr’, ‘Tibirdowanis barr’, ‘West barre’, ‘Nywe gate’, ‘Tregis barr’ and ‘Gregisbarr’, which are possibly described following the town circuit from E to S and then W to N (though also probably including an inner gate) (Curtis 1941, vol. 5, 44-7 (25)). ‘Tibirdowanis’ is possibly a corruption of the Irish for Tobar an Domhnaigh (Sunday’s Well). Thomas (1992, vol. 2, 115) offers two suggestions for the presence on an internal gate, favouring the later. Firstly, that it indicates that the town was originally larger and contracted, necessitating the building on an inner gate, possibly coincident with the 15th-century murage grant (ibid.). Secondly, that the inner gate was originally an external gate and the town extended westward, an argument strengthened by the fact that the fair green was usually located outside the town and had become incorporated and that ‘Haggerd Street’, shown on the 1710/11 map running outside of, and parallel to, the S town wall, was probably accessed from St John’s Lane, probably the original extra-mural route to the S (ibid.). There are three lanes on the S side of the town, one, ‘The Lane’ runs S from the E end of the main street towards the castle which probably terminated at Castle gate, one called ‘College Lane’ which provided access to the college immediately E of the parish church, and one called ‘St John’s Lane’ which ran S from ‘The Green’ and possibly terminated at ‘Tibirdowanis barr’. There was another lane/street which ran from the NW angle of the green to a gate. This lane is suggested by the arrangement of property boundaries on the 1st (1839) ed. OS 6-inch map and was identified in an excavation (06E0625) prior to the Ogenty housing development (Ó Drisceoil 2009, 263). There was probably another lane/street leading to a gate in the N circuit, perhaps running from the N side of the green. An archaeological excavation (96E0314) through the N line of the town defences (ITM 663277, 653645) uncovered a fosse (Wth 4.7m; max. D 2.1m below ground level) which the excavator suggested was originally c. 5m wide and c. 1.7m deep and probably defined the northern edge of the town (Campbell 1996, 3-5). Excavations (03E0863) prior to the construction of the Abbeygrove housing estate revealed several sections of the town ditch (Wth 4-5.9m; D 1.35-1.5m) towards the E end of the N line of town defences, running NE-SW (between 14 and 15 Abbeygrove and the Gowran Abbey nursing home), with indications of a substantial internal bank (Wth 4.5m) (Stafford 2003, 8, 9; 2008, 196). Further excavations (04E0201) N of the fair green, in advance of The Steeples housing estate, revealed that the town ditch (Wth c. 4m) had continued along the line drawn in the 1710/11 map and that the kick-out at the back of the property had been a later 18th or early 19th-century extension (McLoughlin 2004, 10). Discolouration of the subsoil S of the town ditch was interpreted as possible residual bank material (ibid.). The excavation (06E0625) prior to the Ogenty housing development also revealed part of the town ditch (Wth 3m; D just over 1m) in the NW angle of the town, running E-W and beginning to turn SW, showing that the kick-out indicated on the 1710/11 map does not follow the medieval town defences (Delany 2023; Ó Drisceoil 2009, 263). The foundations of a mortar bonded wall (T c. 0.7m), possibly the town wall, were identified S of the town during the excavation (06E0237) in advance of a proposed development (McLoughlin 2004, 14, 18). Delany (2023) summaries the variations in the town ditch as, 'archaeological excavations along the line of the towns northern defences also uncovered a ditch, which ranged from 6m wide and 1.5m deep on the high ground in the east extent of the town, to 4m wide and 1m deep on the site adjoining the excavation site in the lower-lying west extent of the town. The results of the various investigations indicate that the north side of the town was protected by a substantial ditch, and probably an internal earthen bank most likely formed of upcast from the ditch. The ditch appears to have been more substantial to the east, reducing in width and depth as it proceeded downslope to the west'. Ref.: Delany, D. 2023 Archaeological excavation at Ogenty, Kilkenny Road, Gowran, Co. Kilkenny. Final report. Excavation licence number: 21E0385. An Bord Pleanala reference: ABP-306914-19. Dominic Delany & Associates. Unpublished report Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 22 March 2020