Sir, – The latest archaeological reports on the Vicar street houses (reported upon by Frank McDonald April 17th) contain little by way of new evidence and their conclusions can only be described as speculative and somewhat bizarre. Essentially, what we are being asked to believe is that instead of 22 Vicar Street being a bona fide medieval structure, that it is instead some type of eighteenth or nineteenth century replica of a medieval house, one that was somehow fitted out with an original medieval window and an original medieval chimney flue. We, and a host of other authorities on medieval buildings, do not accept this conclusion.
We also fail to see how, as reported, there could be no medieval archaeology on the site, when this is directly contradicted by the consultants’ own interim reports obtained through Freedom of Information last month, which record the presence of a 13th-14th century stone cess pit (toilet) at Vicar Street. Furthermore, none of the trenches opened by the archaeologists exceeded 1.2m in depth and medieval archaeology in the city almost always occurs at a much deeper level.
We remain steadfast in our opinion that 22 Vicar Street contains a medieval structure, part of one of the last surviving cathedral manse houses in Ireland, and an archaeological site deserving of preservation.
Kilkenny’s Central Access Scheme presents a watershed for the future of the medieval city. In the strongest possible terms we urge Kilkenny County Council to pause, step back from the brink and find another, less damaging, way to serve the city’s needs. Yours, etc,
JOHN BRADLEY,
Department of History,
NUI Maynooth
CÓILÍN Ó DRISCEOIL,
Kilkenny Archaeological
Society,
Rothe House,
Kilkenny