EMAP_Progress_Reports_2009_2.pdf - The Heritage Council

Kilkenny
‘Kilkenny Castle’ (Dukesmeadow td.), Co. Kilkenny
Early Medieval House.
Grid Ref: S508557 (25080/15570)
SMR No: KK019-026078
Excavation Licence: E627
Excavation Duration/Year: July 1991– January 1993
Site Directors: B. Murtagh (Freelance)
Excavations were undertaken at Kilkenny Castle to facilitate on-going restoration work. A precastle
occupation horizon was discovered at a depth of 3.6m beneath the modern ground
surface. A sod-built structure was associated with this twelfth-century horizon. Three walls
survived, creating a roughly square structure (4.2m by 4.6m internally), with rounded corners
(Fig. 178). The west wall of this structure had been destroyed by the construction of the
curtain wall of the castle in the thirteenth century. A series of postholes were found
associated with this structure; the discovery of hazel wands suggests that these postholes
may have formed the uprights of a wattle wall. A sunken hearth appears to have functioned
as an industrial hearth, and contained pieces of iron (3) and bronze (1). An extension, or flu,
to this hearth, contained four small pieces of bronze; two small pieces of iron; and three
small pieces of vitrified material. Similar finds were also recovered from a second and third
hearth.
Sherds of coarse pottery, including a possible complete vessel of Leinster Cooking Ware, were
found during the excavation. A fragment of a quernstone and a leather shoe were also found
embedded in the ground surface.
Fig. 177: Plan of sod-house under Kilkenny Castle (after Murtagh 1992).
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