Rothe House Garden Project
Between 2005-7 Kilkenny Archaeology carried out a series of investigations for the Rothe House garden-recreation project. These were funded by Kilkenny Borough Council and the Heritage Council.
This was the first time the garden archaeology of an Irish Early Modern townhouse had been investigated in detail and the project led to the discovery of important new evidence about how these gardens appeared and functioned.
During the excavation in the Rothe plot it was possible to make out the arrangement of the planting beds, paths, walls and other features that formed the garden and these have been replicated in the newly restored scheme which can be visited today.
Over two thousand artefacts were also discovered during the dig, many of which would have been the property of the Rothe family.
More information is available in the ‘Old Kilkenny Review 2008’.