Whither the Society?
Peter McQuillan, Chairman

What now?
In the new millennium, where is the Kilkenny Archaeological Society going? What is the future likely to hold for us? Times have changed since we embarked on the great project of acquiring and restoring Rothe House. What are the implications of these changed times for the House and for the Society?
Much of the debate within the Council of the Society in recent times has been on these questions. The past year has seen the restoration of the garden of Rothe House to the Society, courtesy of Dúchas, the Heritage Service, to whom it had been sold in former days. The medieval burgage plot is now complete, from the street front on Parliament Street to the site of the old City wall at the rear. What do we do now with the House, with the garden, how will we manage it in the interests of the wider community, and how will we finance it? What organisational changes are necessary to ensure its preservation in perpetuity and to make the best use of such a wonderful historic resource which we are so fortunate to have? How best can we discharge our stewardship of this great local asset?

The Conservation Plan for Rothe House
Recognising the issues raised by these questions, the Council, in consultation with the Heritage Council of Ireland, and with their assistance, commissioned a conservation plan from a firm of conservation consultants, Fehily Timoney Gifford, which has much experience of just such situations as ours. We talked about this at our last annual general meeting, while the consultants were engaged on their studies and consultations. The plan is now complete and to hand and those of the members who have seen it are impressed with its thoroughness and with the grasp of the situation and its background which the consultants display.

The Other Business of the Society.
As many of our members have noticed, especially those who served on the Council and its committees in recent decades, the Society’s success in acquiring and restoring Rothe House has resulted in almost monopolising the energies and time of the council members with matters of management, staffing and fund-raising, some would feel to the detriment of our original objectives of historical and archaeological research and publication, promoting interest in studying and learning about our past, and working to preserve those signs of our past which are frequently put at risk by modern development and are often lost .
There is tremendous interest now in local history, perhaps due to a combination of more leisure time, longer lifespans in good health, improved education and educational resources. Recent years have seen a number of local history societies formed around the county and a considerable number of publications on parish and village history by local researchers. There are now courses available at third level, at outreach or by correspondence, which are attracting interested mature students. There may be a role for the Society in all this, bringing together or acting as a focus for such activity, assisting with resources, expertise, advice, and publication. Ni neart go cur le cheile.

Keeping up with the Competition.
Kilkenny had Rothe House, its museum, costume collection, paintings and library long before many other counties had anything like that. We were often the envy of other places. Now, however, many counties have passed us out, as you will see on your travels as tourists, with county museums, heritage centres, etc., with extensive involvement of local authorities and local business interests which enables them to have professional managers and curators. We are one of the last counties to have a Heritage Officer employed by the County Council, or to have a heritage plan for the county, though there are signs that this may be about to be remedied.

The Need for Management.
The huge growth of tourism has greatly increased the value to the community of 'heritage assets' such as Rothe House. The business of maintaining, developing and promoting these assets is nowadays a professional matter and beyond the capacity of small groups of volunteers. Modern legal requirements under health and safety legislation, fire safety legislation, and the requirements of public liability insurers all call for skilled and experienced management to protect the assets, their owners, and of course the visitors. In a competitive environment there is a great need for skilled and sustained marketing of important local heritage sites.

The Significance of Rothe House.
In the conservation plan the significance of the House and garden and its contents is assessed under grades of significance identified as local, regional and national. The limitations of the House as a repository for valuable artefacts are referred to as well as the inadequacies of the recording systems and management policies. The term 'vulnerabilities' is used to describe the issues raised in this regard.

Conservation Policies-Management.
Conservation policies are included in the plan under various headings and a new management structure is provided for. This calls for the involvement of parties other than KAS in the management of the House, while retaining ownership in the hands of the Society. These parties are referred to as 'stakeholders', and they include public and private bodies with a 'stake' in ensuring the future of the House in the interests of the wider community, such as the Heritage Council, Duchas the Heritage Service, the Local Authorities, local tourism bodies, and possibly other local interests. We will be seeking the support of all these bodies for the Conservation Plan, which will be presented to them by the consultants at a joint meeting. The form of the new management organisation has not yet been decided upon, but it is quite likely to be on the lines of the Civic Trust which was formed to manage the property of the former National Design Centre and Butler House.

A County Museum?
The urban setting and the architectural, historical and archaeological elements of Rothe House are considered by the consultants to be of national significance, while the collection of artefacts, the costume and textile collections, the paintings and the library and genealogy records vary between local, regional and national significance.
The artefacts and costumes are considered possibly not significant tourist attractions in their own right, but are worthy additions to a larger collection displayed in more appropriate conditions. This raises the issue of a proper public county museum, which is an objective of Kilkenny County Council, and in which the Society would have a keen interest. Under the proper circumstances of correct protective environment and professional curatorship it should be possible to have a relationship with the National Museum which would allow for artefacts of Kilkenny interest now in Dublin to be displayed in Kilkenny. This might have special relevance for the artefacts emerging from the current Duchas project on the river in the city. But these matters are for the future and depend on the success of the conservation plan and negotiations with the parties concerned.

Conservation Policies.
The policies to be adopted are set out in the Plan under headings:

• Policies to protect the urban setting;
• Policies for the architectural significance: structural conservation and maintenance;
• Policies concerning archaeology: the buildings and garden;
• Policies concerning the museum and archives collection; and
• Policies for management and finance.

Implementation of Conservation Policies.
Among the matters to be dealt with under these policies are:

• Getting the agreement of the Borough Council on correction of developments around Rothe House and on future controls in the area;
• Preparation of a quinquennial report on the fabric of the House and implementation of its recommendations;
• Re-integration of the burgage plot, involving some urgent short-term works and the re-creation of John Rothe’s garden;
• Archaeological investigations of the House and Garden at any opportunity;
• Publication of popular and academic literature on the history and nature of Rothe House;
• Definition, with professional help, of a future collections policy, and identification of suitable repositories for artefacts which do not support that policy;
• Identification of the items in the collections which support the sixteenth/seventeenth century history of the House;
• Documentation and cataloguing of the collections to the standards of the Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works in Ireland (ICHAWI);
• Engagement of professional conservators to advise on care, storage and display in a dedicated storage facility with controlled environment;
• Engagement of professional librarian advice on care and storage of books and archival material;
• The use of the three houses for the following purposes:

• Commissioning of an access audit and its implementation throughout the building;
• The making of unambiguous access and the creation of a strong presence on Parliament Street.
• Improvement of cross-marketing with the Castle and St. Canice’s Cathedral;
• Integration of exhibition design into presentation of Rothe House, including audio, signage and make leaflets;
• Creation of new visitors’ route with signage;
• Introduction of an educational policy, schools programme, events, outreach and website;
• Taking of professional advice and appointment of a Management Committee to do the long-term planning for Rothe House;
• Employment of a Property Manager and prepare a business plan; and
• Preparation of plans for fire safety, disaster recovery, health and safety (emergencies, risks and hazards) and for nuisance and security issues (CCTV, stewards for safety of visitors and the collections).

Going Forward.
The scale of the action facing the Society as we contemplate our future is daunting. But, if we follow the process set out in the Plan, we will achieve our objective of ensuring the future of the Rothe House complex and optimising its value and use for the whole community. The consultants make the point that the completion of a conservation plan is only the first step in a long-term process, Its successful implementation will depend on:

• the acceptance by major stakeholders of a common understanding of a Place, its significance, the points of vulnerability, and the range of policies set forth to mitigate its vulnerability;
• action by each stakeholder to support the Plan;
• appropriate allocation of resources by each stakeholder;
• co-ordination of implementation by the directors of the company; and
• periodic review of the Plan and the implementation process by KAS and the directors of the company.

The Society.
A very important side effect of the Conservation Plan for Rothe House will be the opportunity its implementation will present for the re-vitalisation of the Society, once the future of the House and Garden has been secured, and the energy and attention of members released to pursue the objectives of our constitution.
A presentation of the Conservation Plan will be made by the consultants to the membership of the Society at a general meeting of members, of which notice will be given in due course and copies of the Plan will be available in advance of the meeting. The proposed revised rules for the operation of the Society’s affairs will also be brought to that meeting.
The present Council of the Society is fully committed to the Plan and looks forward to seeing it supported and implemented successfully in the coming years.

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POSTSCRIPT: The Conservation Plan was presented to an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society in Rothe House on February 28th, 2003, and approved in principle. New rules for the governance of the Society were also adopted.
An Implementation Group, comprised of four members of the Council of the Society, has had a series of meetings with a firm of Conservation Architects, Paul Arnold Associates, to initiate the most urgent parts of the Plan in relation to the House; and a Condition Report on the House has been completed, to serve as a starting point and base for the conservation works which have to be carried out.
The Group has met with the stakeholders' representatives, from the local authorities, the Heritage Council, Dúchas, SE Tourism, Kilkenny Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The expressed support of the stakeholders was very gratifying, and the next step is under way -- that is the formation of a group from the stakeholders which will draw up a constitution for a Trust, the Rothe House Trust, which will undertake the management of the House and the implementation of the Plan. This group will, in due course, become the Management Committee of the Trust, as envisaged in the Plan.
A public launch of the Plan will take place soon, to present it to the media and the community at large and seek their support for it.

Page updated 28 September 2003