ROTHE HOUSE
(click to enlarge)
Erected in 1594 by John Rothe, a wealthy
city merchant, and his wife, Rose Archer.
Page revised 10 March 2009
REPORTS OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATIONS IN COUNTY KILKENNY
There has been a huge growth in the number of sites being excavated in Ireland in the last 15 years. Prior to 1989 there were never more than 50 sites per year. From under 100pa in 1990 numbers grew to over 450pa by 19971. European funding for infrastructure development in the form or pipelines and new and upgraded roads was a major factor in this growth. Another factor was the requirement for exploratory excavation prior to development of sites within city centres. With greater national prosperity there have been large numbers of urban development ranging from the upgrading of a single property, through housing developments, to the building of hotels and shopping complexes on sites of a hectare or more.
In Kilkenny city we have had all these, and most importantly a flood relief scheme which has affected hundreds of metres of river bank, which has been rich in archaeology.
It is a condition of the granting of licences to excavate, with a very few exceptions, that the results be published. Statistics published in the Heritage Council report1 show that there was at 1997 a huge backlog, a position which continues, and probably worsens.
Reporting has now reached a level of professionalism where the full presentation of even the smallest excavation may call for a paper of many thousands of words. As a Society we are receiving submissions of such papers for inclusion in our annual journal, and encountering difficulties at two levels. The sheer length of articles can affect the balance of the journal, and the technical detail of the reports do not make easy reading.
A welcome glut of archaeological submissions for Old Kilkenny Review 2003 concentrated the mind of the Editor on the matter. Following discussion with interested parties it was felt that a solution satisfactory to all might be to include a much reduced report in the journal with the full paper being published on our web site. Indeed some test reports, which produce no archaeology, would not be considered suitable for the journal, but could find a place on the web site.
Approaches with material for publication either on the web site or in the journal, or both, should be made to Hon. Editor c/o Rothe House.
Source.
1 Statistics from Unpublished Excavations in the Republic of Ireland 1930-97,
Heritage Council, 2002.
Go to full reports:
Archaeological excavation of
sixth century burials at Cooleeshalmore, Threecastles, Co. Kilkenny.
Patrick J H Neary
Archaeological monitoring and excavation of a medieval
cemetery at St Mary's Lane, Kilkenny City, 2003
Ian W. Doyle
Report on archaeological
excavations at Rothe House, Kilkenny.
Andrew Halpin
The following four, full-text, small / medium sized
excavations conducted in Kilkenny 1998-2001 appeared in condensed form as ‘Four
excavations in Kilkenny City (1999-2001)’, in two parts in Old Kilkenny
Review 2006 and Old Kilkenny Review 2007.
Excavation summaries
Paul Stevens
Full reports:
Evan’s Home, Barrack Lane, Kilkenny
Paul Stevens
Friary Street / Garden Row, Kilkenny
Paul Stevens
James’s Street / Tilbury Place, Kilkenny
Paul Stevens
Maudlin Street, Kilkenny
Paul Stevens