O Tunney school of sculpture conference 30th July - 1st August

A major conference to celebrate the late Medieval O’Tunney school of sculpture is being organised by the Callan Heritage Society and will be held 30th July - 1st August. To book your place see the attached programme here.

Kilkenny castle geophysics first results!

Preliminary results from the Heritage Council funded geophysical survey at Kilkenny castle are very promising. Kevin Barton’s radar survey in the main courtyard has recorded the two towers of William Marshal’s great gatehouse in the south range as well as the massive 8m deep moat that runs outside the gate. A number of structures within the courtyard have also been discovered. Earthsound’s resistance survey has located a host of features in the park including what appears to be early garden paths, the demolished ‘outer gate’ of the castle, and a 5-6m wide ditch running on a peculiar alignment outside the main gatehouse. The buried remains of the medieval Thomastown road have been found and also a large double building (stables?) flanking the road about half way down the survey area. These are all very preliminary results though and a lot of further work is needed to work out exactly what’s what. The final reports will be uploaded to the website over the coming weeks. Sincere thanks to the Heritage Council and the survey team of James Bonsall, Heather Gimson, Kevin Barton Linnae Bel-Maguire and Mark Nolan who did such a fantastic job! And of course a big thank you also to the staff of the OPW at Kilkenny castle for allowing us to do the survey!

 

Geophysical survey underway at Kilkenny castle!

The Kilkenny Archaeological Project in conjunction with Earthsound Geophysics, Dan Tietzch-Tyler and Kilkenny Archaeology are carrying out a ground penetrating radar and resistance survey at Kilkenny castle. This exciting project, which is funded by the Heritage Council, is the first time a geophysical survey has been carried out at the castle. The key aim of the project is to uncover the plan of William Marshal’s great concentric castle which is believed to have occupied the site in the thirteenth century, and of which only about a third is still extant. You can read more about the project here.

Resistance survey underway at the park 

GPR survey in the main courtyard Kilkenny castle

KKAP animal bone dissertation

James Cahill of UCD has recently completed his undergraduate dissertation using KKAP data. James compared the animal bone assemblages from two excavations in Kilkenny, one of a potter’s yard at McDonagh station outside the town walls and the other in Irishtow. His results are very interesting and can be used as a baseline for further research on the city’s excavated animal bones, which are after all, the best indicators of social status: you are what you eat! Download the dissertation here and here.

New excavations on the Kilkenny City Walls at Talbot’s tower

Kilkenny Archaeology have been excavating at Talbot’s tower since the beginning of June. The excavations form part of the conservation plan for Kilkenny’s walls and are funded by Kilkenny Borough Council and the Irish Walled Towns Network. Thissecond season of archaeological work on the tower has concentrated on completing the excavations in the town ditch and also the investigation of a curious ‘garden mound’ which covers the roof of the tower. You can read all about the excavations in Progress reports 1, 2 and 3.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Excavations underway on the roof of Talbot’s tower

 

A selection of the finds recovered from the ‘garden mound’ at Talbot’s tower