What is recorded here

Under the cobbles of Kieran Street, wooden stakes still grip the clay where the River Nore once bit into the Hightown. Built before the church precinct closed, the fence marked the living edge of water rather than a quiet garden border. When the river was reclaimed in the 13th century, the wood was buried but never erased. Each passing cart and footstep compressed the memory of that dangerous margin into the street above.

Probable riverine revetment fence partially excavated by Claire Cotter (06E0712) and Denis Shine (06E0712 ext.) at 44-8 Kieran Street, within the Hightown of Kilkenny and 20m NE of St Mary's parish church (KK019-026115-) (Clutterbuck 2009, 275; Cotter 2009, 275-7; Cotter and Shine 2010, 14; Shine 2011, 210-12). The earliest features identified in the excavation comprised a series of SE-NW orientated post-holes, stake-holes and two slot-trenches (L 3.9m and 3.2m) that cut into the glacial boulder clay and were sealed beneath a post-medieval wall and a cobbled road of probable 13th/14th-century date. The features were interpreted as representing the original river defences of the W bank of the River Nore, prior to its reclamation and the construction of St Kieran Street in the 13th century (Cotter 2009, 276; Cotter and Shine 2010, 14; Ó Drisceoil 2003). They may also represent an early boundary for the NE precinct of St Mary's church as medieval burials, part of the graveyard (KK019-026156-) of St Mary's, were excavated directly to its W (Shine 2011). The fence was only partially excavated and further remains are likely to extend to the NW and SE of the excavation site. Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil Date of upload: 14 December 2020

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