House - 16th century

The National Monuments Service's description

The 16th-century Chancellor’s Manse House and garden at 17-20 Vicar Street is situated in the N of the Irishtown of Kilkenny. The Chancellor was a member of the Chapter of St Canice's Cathedral (KK019-026029-) whose title supposedly derived from the location of his stall or seat in the cathedral from where he made his decisions i.e. the chancel (Hogan 1884, 354). He is also referred to in the papal taxations as holding variously the prebends of Outrath, Inchiholohan and Killamery. Edward Ledwiche refers to the Chancellors House and Orchard as having been, ‘ruined in the wars’, i.e. the 1640s (Ledwich 1781, 486). The rectangular floor plan of the building can be seen on John Rocques map of Kilkenny of 1758. The Chancellors Manse House was located on the E side of Vicar Street between the lands of the Vicar’s Choral (KK019-026120-) and the Prebendary of Tascoffin (KK019-026122-) to its S (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 174-75). This would place it in the area of Nos. 17-20 Vicar Street. In the late 19th century the house is described by Hogan (1884, 354) as being, 'a massive pile of rubble', which according to Carrigan (ibid., 175) had been demolished c. 1800 . However, with its surviving Tudor window hood-moulding and partially intact fireplace in its N gable, No. 17 Vicar Street may have formed some of the N side of the manse house, its S side only having been subject to the 19th-century demolitions.
A survey undertaken by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil in June 2005 following the partial demolition of the E (rear) wall of 17 Vicar Street, describes/revealed its original Tudor windows. The demolition work also included removal of what appeared to be original timber joists and roof timbers. Albeit modified, the S gable and front (W) walls of No. 17 are of late medieval date. The S elevation contains the partial remains of a mid-16th/early 17th-century in situ limestone fireplace at first-floor level and an original limestone doorway that communicated with the S side of the building (now lost) at first-floor level over a coach entrance. The front wall has a round hood-moulding for a window, or perhaps a modified slip entry (Farrelly et al. 1993, 101). Attached to the Chancellors Manse was an orchard, referred to up to modern times as Chancellors Orchard or Sweeney's Orchard. The 1654 Civil Survey also refers to a plot of land called the Chancellors Orchard and describes it as being one acre in size (Simington 1942, vol. 6, 542). Nicholas Shortall built houses at nos. 19, 20, 21, 22 in c. 1860 (Phelan and Gibbs 1956-7, 3). In 1884 the Catholic Presbytery occupied the former Chancellor's Mill House, which was sited to the rear of nos. 19-20 Vicar Street and accessed via Mill Lane (Hogan 1884, 354; Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 175). Number 19 was an eating house in the 1950s and was occupied by the Dalton family who worked in the nearby Chancellors Mills at the time (Phelan and Gibbs 1956-7, 3).
The N, S and W walls of the former Chancellor's three storey mill house, the rear range of the Chancellor’s Manse house, are still extant, forming a c. 6m x 12m building; its E wall is depicted on the historic maps and was probably demolished for the brewery yard in the late 1980s/early 1990s (Con O'Shea pers comm. 2020). According to O'Shea, who was the occupant of the house prior to its partial demolition, the front on the building was on its E side and it was accessed via Mill Lane to the S. The internal elevations of the surviving walls are obscured by a concrete dash. The external/W elevation of the W wall of the building is also covered in dash but where this has been removed roughly dressed quoins, typical of late medieval/early modern houses in Kilkenny are visible but no diagnostic architectural features can be seen which would provide a definitive date for the building. Phelan and Gibbs (1956-7, 3-4) state that the building is of Georgian date but do not elaborate further on this claim. The foundations of the building were identified in test excavations (20E0279), underlying the foundation the S wall of a 18th/19th-century Tan House which extends to the E of the Chancellor’s mill house (Ó Drisceoil 2020, 49-59). The Tan House wall had partially truncated the quoins that originally formed the NE corner of the former Chancellor's mill house. The level of the top of the foundation was at the same level as the present ground surface (44.45m OD), indicating the original ground level outside the building had been reduced, probably in the 1980s in preparation for its use as part of the Smithwick's Brewery yard. The foundations were abutted by the clay lining for a tanning pit, part of a pre-1700 tanning yard (KK019-026244-) (ibid.).

See attached from Ó Drisceoil 2020 report:
KK019-026121-_01 Interior elevation front wall No.17 Vicar Street (former Chancellor's manse)
KK019-026121-_02 S wall of N range of 17 Vicar Street (former Chancellor's manse)

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 13 November 2020

References

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.

Carrigan, Rev. W. 1905 (Reprint 1981) The history and antiquities of the diocese of Ossory, 4 vols. Kilkenny. Roberts Books and Wellbrook Press.

Simington, R.C. (ed.) 1942 The Civil survey, AD 1654-1656. Vol VI: county of Waterford. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Ledwich, E. 1781 The history and antiquities of Irishtown and Kilkenny. In C. Vallancey (ed.), Collectanea de rebus hibernicis 2, no. 9, 349-562. Dublin.

Phelan, W.J. and Gibb, J.S. 1956-7 St. Canice’s Place (ancient Bull Alley) and Vicar Street. Old Kilkenny Review 9, 1-6.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2020 Archaeological assessment: proposed extension to the Kilkenny Inn Hotel, Vicar Street, Kilkenny City. Unpublished report.

Hogan, J. 1884 Kilkenny: the ancient city of Ossory, the seat of its kings, the see of its bishops and the site of its cathedral. Kilkenny. Self published.