Forge

The National Monuments Service's description

Site of the town or common forge of Kilkenny, probably located at 1-2 High Street which is presently occupied by late 18th/early 19th-century commercial buildings (NIAH 12001019 and 12001018). In 1508, Walter Courcy, sovereign of Kilkenny, granted the forge ‘by Crokker’s Corsse’ by the assent of the community to Nicholas oge faber on lease for 50 years rendering 4s per year (McNeill 1931, 117). Croker's Cross was located at the junction of the Parade and High Street and Rose Inn Street. In the Ormond Deeds, a 1518 indenture between Peter (Piers) Butler, Earl of Ormond and two burgesses refers to a ‘messuage with appurtenances...in length from the toll-house (tollenario) of the town on the north to the common smithy (fabricam communem) on the south, and in breadth from the main street (magne strata) of the town on the east to a small lane (vinellam) on the west’ for ten shillings per year (Curtis 1937, vol. 4, 54). This allows the location of the forge to be precisely located at 1-2 High Street, to the S of the 'old Tholsel' (KK019-026045-). The forge is also referred to, but not directly located, in 14th-16th century documents (Rondelez 2016, 76).
Excavations in advance of construction of the present multi-storey carpark and leisure centre on Ormonde Street by Judith Carroll (97E0468; Areas 1, 3, 5) included the plot to the rear of the site of the forge, which extended 130m W from Pudding Lane to the town wall (Carroll 2000, 121-3; 2002, unpublished). The excavation recorded a high density of evidence for medieval metalworking in the form of large smithing hearths, a smelting pit and dumps of metalworking waste, predominantly iron slag, in large pits (Rondelez 2016, 78-9). Excavations ceased at the formation level of the present multi-storey carpark development and significant archaeological features thus remain in situ below this level.

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 14 December 2020

References

Curtis, E. (ed.) 1937 Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1509-1547 A.D. Vol. 4. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

McNeill, C. 1931 Liber Primus Kilkenniensis. Dublin. The Stationery Office.

Carroll, J. 2000 Patrick Street/Pudding Lane/Pennyfether Lane, Kilkenny. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1998: summary accounts of excavations in Ireland, No. 358, 121-3. Bray. Wordwell.

Carroll, J. 2002 Patrick Street/Pudding Lane/ Pennyfeather Lane, Kilkenny: Results of an archaeological Excavation 1998, Volume 1: Main text with illustrations, licence 97E0468, Judith Carroll and Company Ltd. Unpublished report.

Rondelez, P. 2016 Ironworking in the medieval town of Kilkenny, Old Kilkenny Review 68, 75-89.