Almshouses were charitable institutions, typically endowed by a wealthy patron, a guild, or a church body, to provide housing for the elderly poor, widows, or others considered deserving of relief. They were a common feature of post-medieval Irish and British towns, though relatively few examples in Ireland have been studied in any depth, which makes each surviving instance of particular interest.

Unfortunately, the documentary record for this particular site remains thin at present, and without firm dates, patron names, or architectural detail to draw on, the building resists easy categorisation. What can be said is that almshouses in an Irish context were often associated with Protestant landed families or urban corporations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and County Kilkenny, with its strong Anglo-Norman and later Protestant Ascendancy presence, produced a number of such philanthropic foundations. Whether this example in Gardens follows that pattern, or belongs to some other tradition of local poor relief, is a question the physical remains and any surviving estate or parish records might eventually answer.