House - 16th/17th century, Gardens, Co. Kilkenny

Co. Kilkenny |

House

House – 16th/17th century, Gardens, Co. Kilkenny

Behind the shopfront of a jeweller's on Kilkenny's High Street, the south gable of number 71 quietly holds something far older than the 19th-century building that surrounds it.

Embedded within what is now a commercial premises trading as G.L. Ryan, Jeweller, is a gable and chimney stack dating to the late 16th or mid-17th century, the remnants of an earlier house that was absorbed rather than demolished as the street was rebuilt and refaced over successive generations. It is the kind of survival that goes unnoticed from the pavement: a fragment of Kilkenny's early modern domestic fabric folded inside a Victorian facade.

The structural evidence was noted by Farrelly and colleagues in 1993, but the ground beneath the site has its own story. Excavations carried out by archaeologist Sheila Lane in the area between the rear of number 71 and the western frontage of Kieran Street uncovered a circular stone-lined well with an internal diameter of one metre, along with approximately one and a half metres of stratified deposits representing medieval and post-medieval reclamation and make-up dumps. These kinds of deposits, layers of material deliberately laid down to raise or consolidate ground levels over time, often preserve the clearest evidence of how urban plots were gradually built up, extended, and adapted across centuries. The well itself suggests domestic or commercial use stretching back well into the medieval period, long before the surviving gable was constructed.

Rated 0 out of 5

Visitor Notes

Review type for post source and places source type not found
Added by
Picture of Pete F
Pete F
IrishHistory.com is passionate about helping people discover and connect with the rich stories of their local communities.
Please use the form below to submit any photos you may have of House – 16th/17th century, Gardens, Co. Kilkenny. We're happy to take any suggested edits you may have too. Please be advised it will take us some time to get to these submissions. Thank you.
Name
Email
Message
Upload images/documents
Maximum file size: 100 MB
If you'd like to add an image or a PDF please do it here.

Advertisement