“It’s really, really fascinating” so says the Director of Kilkenny Archaeology of this evening’s finding at the Kilkenny Castle excavation site.
The dig got underway on Tuesday to undercover the remnants of the castle’s original medieval gate house and very quickly sourced the remains of two circular towers with 10 foot thick walls which formed that structure.
The work takes place 800 after the death in 1219 of William Marshall who built the castle & 50 years after the building came into the care of the Office of Public Works (OPW).
A passageway was built in 1862 to allow servants cross the courtyard without being seen and the top of this has been uncovered in recent days:
A range of tools & equipment, from drone to digger, are on site to help with the work.
About 1,000 artefacts have been collected, among them these musket-shot pieces of lead which may date to when Oliver Cromwell attacked the castle in 1650:
Other items range from medieval pottery to a 50p piece from 1999 as well as this Irish Volunteers button from the time of the Easter Rebellion:
This harp tuning pin was also found:
Another discovery was made on site this evening just as our Edwina Grace arrived to speak with the Director of Kilkenny Archaeology, Archaeologist Cóilín Ó Drisceoil.
Listen back to the chat here:
