The building above it is a Dunnes Stores, and most shoppers passing through have no reason to suspect that the floor beneath them sits atop deep reclamation deposits, the accumulated layers of material that were deliberately laid down in the medieval period to raise and stabilise ground for building and use, that have been left largely intact since their discovery.

Two phases of excavation, carried out in 1997 and 1998 under licence references 97E0334 and 98E0168, uncovered this medieval stonework at the address 10 to 13 Kieran Street, a location that falls within the south-eastern portion of what was historically known as the Hightown of Kilkenny. The Hightown was the principal Anglo-Norman borough of the medieval city, distinct from Irishtown to its south, and Kieran Street formed part of its fabric for centuries. Alongside the possible house structure, the excavations revealed two pits and a well, features that together suggest a functioning domestic or commercial plot from the medieval period. The reclamation deposits, thick and well-preserved, were found to survive in situ beneath the eastern side of the current building, protected in effect by the very development that might otherwise have destroyed them.