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Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2022 census gave the population of Kilkenny as 27,184, the thirteenth-largest urban centre in Ireland.
Kilkenny is a tourist destination, and its environs include historic buildings such as Kilkenny Castle, St Canice's Cathedral and round tower, Rothe House, Shee Alms House, Black Abbey, St. Mary's Cathedral, The Tholsel, St. Francis Abbey, Grace's Castle, and St. John's Priory. Kilkenny is also known for its craft and design workshops, the Watergate Theatre, public gardens and museums. Annual events include Kilkenny Arts Festival, the Cat Laughs comedy festival and music at the Kilkenny Roots Festival.
Kilkenny began with an early 6th-century ecclesiastical foundation within the Kingdom of Ossory. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle and a series of walls were built to protect the of what became a Normans merchant town. William Marshall, Lord of Leinster, gave Kilkenny a charter as a town in 1207. By the late 13th century, Kilkenny was under Hiberno-Norman control. The Statutes of Kilkenny, passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland. In 1609, King James I of England granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter, giving it the status of a city. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny", was based in Kilkenny and lasted until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. From 1840 onwards, Kilkenny has not been administered as a city under local government law, but the Local Government Reform Act 2014 provides for "the continued use of the description city".
Kilkenny was a brewing centre from the late 17th century, and still houses a number of breweries. The Heritage Council offices are at Church Lane in the former Bishop's Palace. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St Mary's Cathedral and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory is at St Canice's Cathedral.
The Annals of the Four Masters recorded Kilkenny in 1085. Prior to this time the early 6th-century territory was known as Osraighe, referring to the whole district or the capital. The Four Masters entry was the first instance where the capital was called Ceall-Cainnigh (modernised Kilkenny). Cill Chainnigh was a major monastic centre from at least the eighth century. There is no mention of Cill Chainnigh in the lives of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Ciarán of Saighir or any of the early Irish annals suggesting that Cill Chainnigh was not of ancient civil importance.
The Kings of Ossory, O'Carrolls and Fitzpatricks, had residence around Cill Chainnigh. The seat of the diocese of Kingdom of Osraige was moved from Aghaboe to Cill Chainnigh. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, Richard Strongbow, as Lord of Leinster, established a castle near modern-day Kilkenny Castle. William Marshall began the development of the town of Kilkenny and a series of walls to protect the burghers. By the late 13th century, Kilkenny was under Hiberno-Norman control. The original ecclesiastical centre at St. Canice's Cathedral became known as Irishtown and the Anglo-Norman borough inside the wall came to be known as Hightown.
Kilkenny was the site of Ireland's earliest recorded witch trial. Occurring in 1324 and instigated by the Bishop of Ossory, Richard de Ledrede, the trial involved Dame Alice Kyteler and her servant Petronella de Meath.Wright, Thomas, ed. A Contemporary Narrative of the Proceedings Against Dame Alice Kyteler, Prosecuted for Sorcery in 1324, by Richard de Ledrede, Bishop of Ossory. London: The Camden Society, 1843. Petronella would be the first person recorded in Ireland to be burned alive at the stake for witchcraft, after Dame Alice presumably fled the country. This trial was also one of the earliest recorded witch burnings in Europe and inspires much folklore about the possibility of the ghosts of Alice and Petronella haunting downtown Kilkenny. Alice's house, Kyteler's Inn, still stands and is now a pub.
The Hiberno-Norman presence in Kilkenny was deeply shaken by the Black Death, which arrived in 1348. The Statutes of Kilkenny passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland. In 1609, King James I of England granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter giving it the status of a city. Following the Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny", was based in Kilkenny and lasted until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. James II of England spent most of the winter months from November 1689 until January 1690 at Kilkenny, residing in the castle.
Stephens Barracks, built in the years following the 1798 Rebellion, was completed between 1800 and 1803.
The Kilkenny Design Workshops were opened in 1965 and in 1967 the Marquess of Ormonde presented Kilkenny Castle to the people of Kilkenny. Today, it has a lively cultural scene, with annual events including the Kilkenny Arts Week Festival in the last two weeks of August, and the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival at the beginning of June. Kilkenny is also where the Irish ale, Smithwick's, was first brewed. Kilkenny is referred to as the Marble City, and people from Kilkenny are often referred to as 'Kilkenny cat'. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St. Mary's Cathedral and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory is at St. Canice's Cathedral.
Kilkenny is generally representative of wide river valleys in the region with low temperatures on cloudless nights, and is significant in that it records some of the highest summer and lowest winter temperatures in Ireland. The highest air temperature ever recorded in Ireland was , at Kilkenny Castle on .
The Met Éireann Kilkenny Weather station, north-west of the centre of Kilkenny, on the Duningstown Road, opened in , and observations ceased in . A climatological station is currently in operation within of the old site, and as of , was providing live weather data to the general public and climate data to Met Éireann. Extremes recorded at the station include the highest air temperature of on , the lowest air temperature of on and the lowest ground temperature of on .
The warmest and sunniest month on record in Kilkenny was with a total of Sunlight and very high temperatures throughout. The maximum daily sunshine was on . The overall trend in temperatures has been on the rise with a marked increase from 1988 onwards. Annual temperatures are running over or above 20th century levels.
The maximum daily recorded at Kilkenny station was on . The late 1950s and early 1960s were wet but rainfall had been steady throughout the century. 2002 was a very wet year and since 2005 annual rainfall has been increasing steadily, with 2009 being the wettest year since records commenced in 1958.
Changes as of the 2006 census, by the Central Statistics Office, Kilkenny Town Borough had a population of 8,661 which was an increase of 70 persons over the 2002 figure of 8,591 or 0.8%. The Town Environs had a population of 13,518 which was an increase of 1347 persons over the 2002 figure of 12,144 or 11.3%.Table 5: Population of Towns ordered by County and size, 2002 and 2006. Overall both the Borough & Environs had a population of 22,179 in 2006 which was an increase of 1444 persons over the 2002 figure of 20,735 or 7.0%. People from Kilkenny are often referred to as 'Cats'.
Disposable household income per person as of 2005 was €18,032 and the index of disposable household was 89.4.
The main religion is Catholicism, however, there are adherents of the Church of Ireland, Presbyterian, Methodist, Jewish and other religious traditions living in Kilkenny.
Kilkenny's first council was elected in 1231. From the 13th century to the end of the 16th, the chief magistrate was known as the sovereign, and since then as the mayor. It was granted a royal charter as a city in 1609 by James I of England and Ireland. This was a county corporate which included the borough of Irishtown, which fell within the city. The borough corporation established under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 is a successor to both the corporation established under this charter and of the borough of Irishtown. In 1899, under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, the area became an urban district, but its council retained the style of a borough corporation. In 2002, under the Local Government Act 2001, Kilkenny Borough Corporation became a borough council. On 1 June 2014, under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, the borough council was dissolved and administration of the town was amalgamated with Kilkenny County Council.
County Kilkenny is part of the Southern Region. It is part of the Carlow–Kilkenny Dáil constituency and the South European Parliament constituency.
In the Irish House of Commons, both Kilkenny City and the bishop's borough of St Canice (or Irishtown) were represented with two MPs each. From 1801, following the Acts of Union 1800, Kilkenny City was represented in the United Kingdom House of Commons by one MP from 1801 to 1918, and as part of North Kilkenny from 1918 to 1922. In 1921, the Carlow–Kilkenny Dáil constituency was created. This continued until 1937, when there was a separate Kilkenny constituency, but from 1948 there has been a continuous constituency of Carlow–Kilkenny.
In 2002, under the Local Government Act 2001, the former five were redesignated as cities. At the same time, the historic city status of Kilkenny was acknowledged in law. When this legislation was being debated, local TDs Phil Hogan and John McGuinness successfully lobbied that Kilkenny could continue to be referred to as a "city". Accordingly, a clause was added to the 2001 bill:
It remains both common and permissible in law to describe Kilkenny as a city; section 10(6) of the 2001 Act, as amended by the 2014 Act, provides that "the continued use of the description city in relation to Kilkenny, to the extent that that description was used before 1 January 2002 and is not otherwise inconsistent with this Act".
As of 2014, Kilkenny does not have an administration separate from the county. However, under Local Government Reform Act 2014, the municipal district is distinctly acknowledged as "the Municipal District of Kilkenny City".
Surviving examples of the city's medieval architecture include Kilkenny Castle and parts of the Kilkenny City Walls. These walls define the extent, layout and status of the medieval town. The town grew from a monastic settlement to a thriving Norman merchant town in the Middle Ages. St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower are an example of the monastic settlement. Rothe House on Parliament Street is an example of an Elizabethan merchant townhouse located on the only completely surviving burgage plot in Ireland. It also features a restored 17th-century garden on an area of half an acre behind the house, complete with herbs, vegetables and an orchard.
The black stone with decorative white fossils that forms the backbone of many of Kilkenny's fine buildings was quarried locally, particularly from the quarry located 1.6 km south of the town on the R700.An exposed rock face can still be seen from the road. Kilkenny marble was used for the plinth of the new tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral in England.Leicester Cathedral website
Visitor attractions in Kilkenny and its environs include Kilkenny Castle and Gardens including the Butler Gallery, St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower, Rothe House and Garden, Shee Alms House, Kilkenny Courthouse, St. Mary's Cathedral, The Tholsel, the Dominican Order Black Abbey, St. John's Church, Butler House, Kilkenny 'Slips' and St. Francis Abbey Brewery. Gardens include the Castle Rose Garden, Rothe House Garden, the Famine Memorial Garden and the garden of Butler House.
In the county other attractions include Kells Priory, Jerpoint Abbey, Dunmore Caves, Woodstock Estate and Jenkinstown Park.
Local Kilkenny marble or black marble was used to decorate many of the city's buildings, and Kilkenny referred to the "Marble City" for this reason.
The first stone castle was begun in 1204 by William Marshall the site was completed in 1213; it was a symbol of Norman occupation and in its original thirteenth-century condition it would have formed an important element of the defences of the town. There were four large circular corner towers and a massive ditch, part of which can still be seen today on the Parade. This was a square-shaped castle with towers at each corner; three of these original four towers survive to this day.
Kilkenny Walls protected the medieval town of Kilkenny. The town was surrounded by walls with regular towers and gates. Remnants of the Town Walls survive such as Talbot Tower (1207), which is also known as Talbot's Bastion or Castle. It is the larger of the two surviving towers of the defences of the medieval High town of Kilkenny. There are walls on Abbey Street, and the adjoining Black Freren Gate is the only surviving gate/access remaining on the High town Circuit into the old city. A wall also runs through the brewery's grounds beside St. Francis Abbey.
The Kilkenny City Walls Conservation Plan is a plan by the inhabitants of Kilkenny, Kilkenny Borough Council, the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government, An Taisce, The Kilkenny Archaeological Society and The Heritage Council to ensure the long-term survival of the city's walls.
Cruciform, the cathedral was built in the Early English, or English Gothic, style of architecture, of limestone, with a low central tower supported on black marble columns. The exterior walls, apart from the gables, are Battlement, and there are two small at the west end. The cathedral is seventy-five yards long, and its width along the transepts is forty-one yards.
Beside the cathedral stands a 100 ft 9th century round tower. St. Canice's tower is an excellent example of a well-preserved early Christian (9th century) Round Tower. Accessible only by a steep set of internal ladders, it may once have been both a watchtower and a refuge, and the summit gives a good view of Kilkenny and the countryside around. The hill on which the cathedral stands is believed to be the centre of the first major settlement at Kilkenny, and the round tower suggests an early ecclesiastical foundation.
Dominican Order Black Abbey was founded in 1225, and lying just off Parliament Street.
Green's Bridge, also known as the 'Great Bridge of Kilkenny', crosses the River Nore in St. Canices Parish in the townland of Gardens, and is an important element of the architectural heritage of Kilkenny City. First built before 1200, the bridge has been rebuilt several times since the twelfth century due to flooding, including the great floods of 1487 and 1763. The present-day bridge was built in 1766 after the 'Great Flood of 1763'. It was built by William Colles (c. 1710–70) to designs prepared by George Smith (1763–67), a pupil of George Semple (c. 1700–82).
John's Bridge connects John Street to Rose Inn Street in Kilkenny City. It was first built after 1200, and has been called 'John's Bridge' since the Middle Ages. It has also been rebuilt many times since the twelfth century due to flooding. During the flood of 1763, people gathered on John's Bridge after Green's Bridge collapsed. John's Bridge also collapsed, and sixteen people died. The present-day John's Bridge was completed in 1910 and spans across the River Nore. It was reputedly, at the time it was completed, the longest single-span reinforced bridge in Ireland or Britain. The design was by Mouchel & Partners using the Hennebique system of reinforcement. The arch consists of three ribs, tapering from to deep. The traverse deck beams are each deep.
The Ossory Bridge, linking the ring road, was completed in 1984 and features an inlaid sculpture. St Francis Bridge was opened in May 2017, and forms part of the Kilkenny Central Access Scheme. The scheme and the proposed building of the new bridge was the subject of some debate and protest in Kilkenny in 2014.
Lady Desart Bridge and Ossory Pedestrian bridge are the city's two pedestrian/cycle bridges. Lady Desart Bridge was opened in January 2014 and links John's Quay and Bateman Quay and is located between John's Bridge and Green's Bridge. The Ossory Pedestrian bridge, located underneath the main Ossory bridge, links the Canal Walk on one side of the River Nore to the Lacken Walk on the other side.
Points of cultural interest in the area include Kilkenny Castle, St. Canice's Cathedral and round tower, Rothe House, St. Mary's Cathedral, Kells Priory, Kilkenny Town Hall, Black Abbey and Butler Gallery. The latter re-opened in August 2020, having moved to a new location in Evan's Home from the former basement kitchen of Kilkenny Castle.
Kilkenny Tradfest takes place over the St. Patrick's Day weekend in March and includes the St. Patrick's Day festivities, the parade and the Tradfest music festival, which highlights Irish traditional and folk music.
The Kilkenny Roots Festival is held on the first weekend of May and features Americana/Bluegrass/Folk/Rockabilly/AltCountry artists in various indoor venues throughout the city. Since 1998 the festival has attracted musicians from the Americana/Roots genre, including Calexico, Giant Sand, Ryan Adams, Alejandro Escovedo, Guy Clark, Chuck Prophet, Ray LaMontagne, Richmond Fontaine, Rodney Crowell, Phosphorescent, Sturgill Simpson and Alabama Shakes.
Kilkenny hosts the annual Cat Laughs comedy festival every June bank holiday week.
The Kilkenny Arts Festival established in the 1970s takes place in late August. During this time Kilkenny plays host to contemporary art, with theatre, dance, visual art, literature, film, painting, sculptures and live performances. Musical events, including traditional, classical, world music and jazz, take place during the festival.
Savour Kilkenny is a food festival which happens in October every year. In November, Kilkenny stages Kilkenomics, the world's first economics and comedy festival. Venues such as the Watergate Theatre host a range of home-produced and touring performances in dance, music and theatre.
Kilkenny is mentioned in several songs, including in "When You Danced With Me" on ABBA's 2021 album Voyage.
The Kilkenny Arts Festival is held every August. A concert, 'Source', is held in Nowlan Park and has attracted musical performers such as Rod Stewart, Shania Twain, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Andrea Bocelli. Dolly Parton headlined at the 2008 event. Bruce Springsteen played 2 consecutive nights in July 2013 to finish the European leg of his World tour.
St Canice's Cathedral sometimes hosts classical musicians and choirs. The Kilkenny Choir and a gospel choir have performed in churches throughout the town. Groups like Ex Cathedra have played during the Kilkenny Arts Festival. Cleere's pub and theatre on Parliament Street are known for touring Irish and international bands including indie, jazz and blues. They also have a traditional music session every Monday night, as does Ryan's on Friary Street on Thursdays.
In 1802 Sir Richard and Sir John Power of Kilfane established the Kilkenny Private Theatre.
The Watergate Theatre in Kilkenny is a centre for the performing and visual arts. It provides a varied programme of professional and amateur dramatics, classical and contemporary music, opera and dance, together with exhibitions of paintings and photographs. The Set Theatre is a smaller theatre located on John Street in Kilkenny.
Radio Kilkenny, which began as a pirate station Kilkenny Community Radio, received a licensed to broadcast to Kilkenny city and county on 96.0 MHz,96.6 MHz and 106.3 MHz in 1988. Radio Kilkenny had 63% of the radio listeners in County Kilkenny and 16% in County Carlow but failed to secure a franchise in 2003 when the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland changed the station's franchise area to include Carlow. The station ceased broadcasting at 2:10 a.m. on 1 January 2004.
Beat 102-103 is a regional youth radio station broadcasting across the South East of Ireland. It serves a population of about 450,000, and in August 2006 it had a 49% share of the southeast market.
Finn's Leinster Journal (1767–1801) was founded by Edmund Finn in 1767. It was published in Kilkenny but some content was relevant to Carlow. It was continued as Leinster Journal (1801–1830) and the Kilkenny Journal from 1832.
The Moderator (1814–1822) changed its name to Kilkenny Moderator 1822–1919 and reverted to Moderator from 1920 to 1925.
The modern Kilkenny People was first published in 1895. It is a weekly paper. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, the Kilkenny People had an average weekly circulation of 17,578 for the first six months of 2006. It is printed by the Kilkenny People Group at Purcellsinch and the group also publishes a number of other regional papers.
A quote from an article "The Berkeley Pavilion" by Patsy Dempsey – Bishop George Berkeley (1685–1753) was one of the great philosophers of his time. He was born near Kilkenny and lived in Dysart Castle, Thomastown. Berkeley studied at Kilkenny College (now County Hall) from 1696–1700, where Jonathan Swift was a predecessor.
St. Kieran's College was founded in 1782 and was the first Roman Catholic secondary school in Ireland. It was created after Grattan's Parliament which permitted some relaxation of the Penal Laws in the country. St. Patrick's Industrial School, Kilkenny was founded in 1879, and closed in 1966. There are a number of other second-level schools, including Loreto Secondary School, CBS Kilkenny, Coláiste Pobail Osraí, Presentation College and the Kilkenny City Vocational School. Other schools located in the rural areas of the county are Castlecomer Community School, Colaiste Mhuire Johnstown, Scoil Airigeal Ballyhale, St. Brigid's Callan, Grennan College Thomastown and Callan CBS. These also are noted for their focus on the games of hurling and camogie. Gaelscoil Osrai an Irish school in Kilkenny, is the 2nd largest Irish-only school in Ireland with around 450 from Junior Infants to 6th Class.
Maynooth University maintained a campus at the grounds of St. Kieran's College from September 1997 until June 2018. The university offered the first year of full-time arts degrees in Kilkenny, with students attending second and third year courses on the main campus in Maynooth.
From Kilkenny station trains run on the Dublin–Waterford railway line, providing connections in Waterford to Clonmel and stations to Limerick Junction. At Kildare connecting trains provide links to Ballina, Westport, Galway, Ennis, Ballybrophy, Nenagh, Limerick, Killarney, Tralee and Cork.
County Kilkenny Village Creameries amalgamated to create the Avonmore Creameries brand in 1966. That coop became Avonmore Food plc in 1988 and joined with Waterford Food plc in 1997. It is today known as the global Food giant, Glanbia, one of the world's top nutrition companies, with revenues of over €3.5 billion and 5,815 employees.
In 1966 over 30 local creameries created by local farmers joined with other small rural co-operative societies throughout County Kilkenny and some neighbouring counties, and together with Uniq plc Limited support, formed the Avonmore Creameries Federation. According to the Glanbia Collections in Kilkenny Archives at St Kieran's College, Kilkenny, the Avonmore Coop brand was created through the merger of several dozen village creameries throughout County Kilkenny. Realising the benefits of increased scale and greater diversification in the 1960s, they saw the need for an amalgamation of many small, locally focused co-operatives across Ireland. It led to the construction of a new multi-purpose Avonmore dairy plant facility in Ballyragget, County Kilkenny, a plant they claimed was the biggest food processing facility in Europe at that time. Today that giant global entity is known as Glanbia. Glanbia has its origins in the Irish agricultural co-operative movement that evolved over the last century, ever since first Irish Co-operative founded by Horace Plunkett in 1889. Today Glanbia has operations in 34 countries and is exporting to more than 100 countries worldwide. Glanbia is ranked by revenue (2010 figures) in the top 100 Cooperatives, No 98 in the world and No 1 in Ireland by the International Co-operative Alliance, the global apex organisation of co-operatives worldwide.
The Ballyhale C.D.S. (1895–1995) 100th-anniversary booklet of its foundation records that a federation of 25 Co-op Creameries originally emerged in January 1965 under the umbrella of Avonmore Creameries Ltd., that shares were taken in the new entity by the society and that in following years a Ballyragget milk processing factory was built. Ireland entered the Common Market in 1970. The first bulk milk collection took place in 1973, when the amalgamation was formalised.
Hurling is the dominant sport in the city and county, and Kilkenny has one of the most successful county hurling teams. Secondary schools noted for their contribution to the game include St. Kieran's College and Christian Brothers School (CBS). Former students who have played for St. Kieran's include Eddie Keher, Brian Cody, Eoin Kelly, DJ Carey and Henry Shefflin. There are three GAA clubs based in the city: O'Loughlin Gaels GAA, Dicksboro GAA and James Stephens (GAA Club). St John's Parish is the catchment area for O'Loughlin Gaels. The parishes of St Mary's and St Canice's are associated with Dicksboro. St Patrick's parish is the catchment area for the James Stephens club.
Gaelic football is also played in Kilkenny, although it is not as popular as it is in some other Irish counties. The Kilkenny footballers are the only county not to participate in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship. They have previously taken gap years away from League football, and for example did not participate in 2013, after poor runs in 2012 and 2011.
In 2015 Kilkenny United W.F.C. were admitted to the Women's National League, the top tier of women's football in Ireland.
Rugby is played at schools level by Kilkenny College and Kilkenny Christian Brothers School (CBS).
Around Kilkenny City, there is also a Driving Range in Newpark and an 18-hole all-weather Par 3 golf course in Pocoke.
Mount Juliet Golf Course is a golf resort situated near Kilkenny in Thomastown. Jack Nicklaus designed the course, and it is considered to be one of Ireland's best courses.
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