Diggers move into Kilkenny Castle in search for 800-year-old Gatehouse

By COLIN BARTLEY

THE diggers have moved in on Kilkenny Castle as a major search for the 800-year-old Castle Gatehouse gets undereway.

The Office of Public Works this week began an archaeological dig in front of Kilkenny Castle looking for the exact location and shape of the early 13th century Castle Gatehouse.

The dig will unearth how well the Gatehouse has been preserved and, if found, what to do with it next.

An OPW spokesperson told KilkennyNow.ie: “From drawings that we have, it appears that there was originally a wall there that enclosed the castle.

“What we are doing is an archaeological dig with geo-surveying equipment mapping out the site. The archaeologists will be going in then with hand tools to explore what is there.

“We could not corner off too big a site as it would impact on the public and the dig is set to last three weeks.

“Once we get the results back of the dig we will look into the next stage of the project.

“We have a couple of options, we could cover it over and record the data of the dig and leave it preserved beneath the ground or we could create some kind of feature out if it depending on what we find.

“We just ask the public to please excuse the appearance while this excavation is taking place.”