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!
