County Kilkenny Guide (Cill Chainnigh)
“The Cats” - in the province of Leinster. County town: Kilkenny.
A beautifully preserved medieval city with a mighty castle and hurling heritage.
Kilkenny is Ireland’s medieval jewel: a compact, beautifully preserved city built in warm limestone, crowned by a mighty Norman castle and threaded with narrow “slips” and old merchant houses. It’s a county of craft, festivals and fierce hurling pride - the famous black-and-amber “Cats” are among the greatest teams the game has known.
For a few extraordinary years in the 1640s, Kilkenny city was effectively the capital of Ireland, seat of the Confederate Catholics who governed much of the island from its Parliament. That medieval swagger never quite left: the city keeps its castle, its 13th-century St Canice's Cathedral with a climbable round tower, its narrow slips and its merchant houses, and it remains the only inland city in the Republic. The local black limestone, polished to a gleam and sold as Kilkenny marble, gave the Marble City its nickname and adorns buildings across the world.
Beyond the city, the Nore and Barrow valleys hold some of Ireland's prettiest estate villages, Inistioge and Graiguenamanagh among them, along with the great Cistercian ruins of Jerpoint Abbey and the fortress-like Kells Priory. Castlecomer's plateau was mined for coal for three centuries, while Callan produced both the founder of the Christian Brothers and the architect of the White House. Above all, Kilkenny means hurling: the Cats have won more All-Ireland senior titles than any other county, and on championship Sundays the black and amber stripes are visible in every parish from Urlingford to Mooncoin.
Cities, towns and villages in Kilkenny
- Kilkenny - The medieval Marble City on the Nore, dominated by Kilkenny Castle, home of the Butler family for almost 600 years.
- Callan - A historic market town that produced Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Christian Brothers, and White House architect James Hoban.
- Thomastown - A Norman market town on the Nore beside the magnificent ruins of Jerpoint Abbey and the renowned Mount Juliet estate.
- Castlecomer - An estate town on the north Kilkenny plateau where anthracite coal was mined for some 300 years, a story told in its Discovery Park.
- Graiguenamanagh - A Barrow-side boating town built around Duiske Abbey, one of the finest Cistercian foundations in Ireland.
- Inistioge - An impossibly pretty village of tree-lined square and ten-arch bridge, a favourite filming location including for Circle of Friends.
- Bennettsbridge - A Nore-side village that became a hub of Irish craft, home to Nicholas Mosse Pottery in an old flour mill.
- Ballyragget - A north Kilkenny market village with a well-preserved 15th-century Butler tower house.
- Mooncoin - A village in the county's southern tip, immortalised in the ballad The Rose of Mooncoin, Kilkenny's sporting anthem.
- Freshford - A quiet village whose 18th-century church preserves a remarkable 12th-century Hiberno-Romanesque doorway.
Famous people from Kilkenny
- James Hoban - The architect of the White House in Washington, born near Callan around 1755 and trained in Dublin before emigrating.
- George Berkeley - The great philosopher of idealism, born at Dysart Castle near Thomastown in 1685, after whom Berkeley, California is named.
- Edmund Ignatius Rice - The Callan-born founder of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers, whose schools educated generations worldwide.
- Henry Shefflin - The Ballyhale hurler widely regarded as one of the greatest ever, winner of ten All-Ireland senior medals with Kilkenny.
- DJ Carey - The Gowran-born hurling forward whose skill made him one of the most celebrated players of the 1990s and 2000s.
- Brian Cody - The James Stephens clubman who managed Kilkenny to eleven All-Ireland titles across 24 seasons, a record in hurling management.
- Alice Kyteler - The wealthy Kilkenny moneylender accused in 1324 in one of Europe's earliest recorded witchcraft trials; she escaped, but her maid was burned.
- John Banim - The Kilkenny-born 19th-century novelist and playwright often called the Scott of Ireland for his Tales by the O'Hara Family.
- Hubert Butler - The essayist of Maidenhall, Bennettsbridge, whose luminous writing on Ireland and Europe won belated international acclaim.
- Thomas Kilroy - The Callan-born playwright and novelist, a leading figure in the Field Day movement and author of The Big Chapel.
Did you know?
- Kilkenny hold more All-Ireland senior hurling titles than any other county, with 36 championships.
- The 1324 trial of Alice Kyteler in Kilkenny was one of the earliest witchcraft prosecutions in Europe, and her servant Petronilla de Meath became the first person burned for heresy-linked witchcraft in Ireland.
- The Statutes of Kilkenny, passed in 1366, notoriously attempted to ban the Anglo-Norman colonists from adopting Irish language, law, dress and customs.
- From 1642 to 1649 Kilkenny was the seat of the Confederate Catholics of Ireland, making it the de facto capital of much of the country.
- Kilkenny marble is not true marble but a local black limestone that takes a high polish, and it gave the Marble City its nickname.
- Excavations at Dunmore Cave uncovered evidence linked to a Viking massacre recorded there in 928, along with a hoard of 10th-century coins.
- Smithwick's ale was first brewed in Kilkenny in 1710 at the St Francis Abbey site, making it one of Ireland's oldest beer brands.
- The round tower at St Canice's Cathedral, built in the 9th century, is one of only a few in Ireland that visitors can still climb.
Places to visit in Kilkenny
- Kilkenny Castle - A grand Norman castle in Ireland’s medieval city.
Surnames from Kilkenny: Walsh · Brennan · Fitzpatrick · Tobin · Purcell · Grace · Butler · Brophy · Dunphy · Phelan · Aylward · Bagenal