Souterrain

The National Monuments Service's description

Souterrain chamber discovered in archaeological test-excavations (06E0306) by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil in a former walled garden known as the 'Deanery Orchard', now a park and carpark, 37m SW of St Canice's Cathedral (KK019-026029-) (Gittins 2004; Ó Drisceoil 2006; 2009). In the early medieval period the 'Deanery Orchard' formed part of the S side of the precinct of the ecclesiastical settlement of Cill Chainnigh; the round tower (KK019-026175-) is the only remaining upstanding building from this period of the site's history but a souterrain, part of the bank and fosse of the ecclesiastical enclosure (KK019-026231-), a 9th-century stone-lined cess-pit (KK019-026230-) and pits (KK019-026232-) containing evidence for bone and antler working in the 10th-12th century, have also been found on the site (Ó Drisceoil 2018, 118). Burials (KK019-026171-) that underlay the round tower have been radiocarbon dated to the 10th, and 11th/mid-12th centuries. The terminal chamber of a clay-mortar bonded stone souterrain cutting into the natural boulder clay and levelled bank of the enclosure associated with the early medieval ecclesiastical settlement of St Canice's, underlay and extended to the S of, the late 17th-century N boundary wall of the Deanery Orchard. The chamber of the souterrain is of rectangular plan (int. dims. 1.65m E-W x > 1.5m N-S) and incorporates a niche in the W wall. The capstones of the souterrain had been removed and the chamber was infilled with waste containing burnt material and fragments of 15th-century line-impressed tiles. The remainder of the souterrain extends under Church Lane and probably into the graveyard (KK019-026171-) of the cathedral. The souterrain and most of its infills remain preserved in situ.

See attached photograph.

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 5 November 2020

References

Gittens, M. 2004 Saint Canice’s Orchard, Coach Road/Church Lane. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2002: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, no. 1006, 272-3. Bray. Wordwell.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2006 Archaeological Assessment: Proposed Carpark Development at The Deanery Orchard, St. Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny City 06E0306, (Kilkenny Archaeology, unpublished report).

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2009 The Deanery Orchard, St Canice’s Cathedral, Kilkenny. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2006: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, No. 1062, 273-5. Bray. Wordwell.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2018 From Gaelic church settlements to Anglo-Norman towns: problems and possibilities. In H.B. Clarke and Sarah Gearty (ed.), More maps and texts: sources and the Irish Historic Towns Atlas, 115-34. Dublin. Royal Irish Academy.