Inn

The National Monuments Service's description

Occupying the rear of no. 17 High Street, Kilkenny, within the walls of the Hightown of Kilkenny and on the chief thoroughfare of the Anglo-Norman town, 55m SW of the site of the medieval market cross. A late 16th-century-house, consisting of a number of buildings divided by courtyards, was built by Martin Archer, whose armorial plaque (KK019-026179-) adorns the front of the building, bearing his coat of arms and the date 1582. The main house (KK019-026049-), on the street frontage, was linked to an inner house via a link-building (Ó Drisceoil 2008, unpublished; 2009, unpublished; 2010, 254; 2012, 210). It was probably originally the main service and kitchen area of the late 16th-century complex and was converted in the mid-1700s into 'the Hole in Wall' supper-club, which continued in use for about a century. A detailed account of the events and personalities that frequented the place is to be found in Conway (2001, 6-24). Major structural alterations would have been required to change the dwelling into a supper-house and there are signs of these today in the brick fireplaces and reset chimney on the N side of the inner house. The S side of the ruined inner house was restored as a public house and venue in 2001-8; the N side remains roofless and semi-ruinous. Original features include, in the W wall, a single-light window with chamfered jambs at ground-floor level, four two-light three-centred windows with hood-mouldings at first-floor level and a cut-stone octagonal chimney mid-way along the northernmost portion, with a broach-stop terminating four opposing angles resting on the square base and projecting mouldings at the top. There is a round-headed doorway in a cross-wall at ground level. In the S gable there is a large polished limestone depressed three-centred fireplace with chamfered surround at ground-floor level, two four-centred two-light windows with hood-moulding at attic level and the gable is surmounted by a square chimney (Farrelly et al. 1993, 42; Conway 2001, 8, 12, 15, 17, 20)
Late 16th to 18th-century floors and culverts were uncovered in test-excavations (07E0910) and monitoring (07E0684) by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil (Ó Drisceoil 2008; 2009; 2010; 2012). Archaeological monitoring (07E0684) of ground reduction and services installation for the restoration of the S side of the inner house uncovered a cobbled yard surface between the rear (W) of the building and its walled garden. A beaten-earth sub-floor of the building, probably the original late 16th-century floor, was revealed sealed beneath a later culvert and flagstone paving, the later possibly relates to its use as a tavern (Ó Drisceoil 2009, unpublished; 2012, 210). Test-excavation in the N side of the inner house (07E0910) revealed the E face of a N-S orientated dividing wall within the building and the continuation of the flagstone floor over a make-up deposit containing what appears to have been waste (18th-century bottle-glass, clay-pipes, coins and tokens) from the tavern (Ó Drisceoil 2008; 2010). All of the features remain preserved in situ.
After lying derelict and partially roofless for many years, the building was reopened as a pub in 2009 following conservation work.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly and Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 4 November 2020

References

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2008 Preliminary Archaeological Impact Assessment Report: Proposed Commercial Development Nos. 18, 19 and 21 High Street, Kilkenny City 07E0910. Kilkenny Archaeology. Unpublished report.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2010 18, 19 and 21 High Street (rear of), Kilkenny, Kilkenny. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2007: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, no. 962, 254. Bray. Wordwell.

Conway, M.A. 2001 ‘The Hole in the Wall, Kilkenny: An Inner House of the Archer mansion 1582'. Old Kilkenny Review 53, 6-24.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2012 17 High Street (‘The Hole in the Wall’), Kilkenny (07E0684). In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2008: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, no. 713, 210. Bray. Wordwell.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2009 Archaeological monitoring report: Conservation and Restoration works at the ‘Hole in the Wall’ No. 17 High Street (rear of), Kilkenny City 07E0684. Unpublished report. Kilkenny Archaeology.

Farrelly, J., O'Reilly, B., and Loughran, A. 1993 Urban archaeological survey - county Kilkenny (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.