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KILKENNY |
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KILKENNY is Ireland's finest medieval city. Above the broad sweep of
the River Nore sits the castle, while a pretty, humpbacked stone bridge
leads up into narrow, cheerful streets laced with carefully maintained
buildings. Kilkenny's earliest settlement was a monastery founded by St
Canice in the sixth century, but all that remains from those days is the
round tower which stands alongside the cathedral. The city's layout
today owes more to its medieval history. Following continual skirmishes
between local clans, the arrival of the Normans in 1169 saw the building
of a fort by Strongbow on the site of today's castle. His son-in-law,
William Marshall, consolidated Norman power in Kilkenny, maintaining the
fortified city and keeping the indigenous Irish in an area of less
substantial housing, beyond its walls - of which only the name "Irishtown"
remains. In 1391, the Butler family acquired Kilkenny Castle and so
ensured the city's loyalty to the English Crown.
In the mid-seventeenth century, Kilkenny virtually became the capital of
Ireland, with the founding of a parliament in 1641 known as the
Confederation of Kilkenny . This attempt to unite resistance to the
English persecution of Catholics was powerful for a while, though its
effectiveness had greatly diminished by the time Cromwell arrived - in
his usual destructive fashion - in 1650. Kilkenny never recovered its
former prosperity and importance. The disgrace of the Butler family in
1715, coupled with English attacks upon the rights of Catholics through
the Penal Laws, saw the city decline still further, though the towering
mill buildings on the river banks are evidence of a considerable
industrial history.
Enough medieval buildings remain to attest to Kilkenny's former
importance, however, and in a place brimming with civic pride, there's
been a tasteful push towards making the town a major tourist attraction.
Kilkenny is sometimes known as "the marble city" because of the
limestone mined locally, which develops a deep black shine when polished.
Echoing this, the town's bar and shop signs all gleam with black and
brown lacquer, the names cut in deeply bevelled, stout gold lettering
The City
Kilkenny is focused on the hill and its castle . Climbing from the river
up Rose Inn Street brings you to the tourist office , housed in the
sixteenth-century Shee Alms House , one of the very few Tudor almshouses
to be found in Ireland. A walking tour of the city leaves from here six
times a day (£3); enquire at the tourist office for exact times. At the
top of Rose Inn Street to the left is the broad stretch known as The
Parade , which leads up to the castle. Formerly used for military and
civic ceremonies, it now serves as a bus park in summer. To the right,
the High Street, graced with the eighteenth-century Tholsel , once the
centre of the city's financial dealings, and now the town hall, soon
becomes the busy main thoroughfare of Parliament Street, then continues,
crooked and intriguing, with little medieval slips and alleyways ducking
off it, through Irishtown towards the cathedral .
Of all the surviving buildings from the prosperous Tudor commercial
period, the finest is Rothe House on Parliament St (April-June, Sept &
Oct Mon-Sat 10.30am-5pm, Sun 3-5pm; July & Aug Mon-Sat 10am-6pm, Sun
3-5pm; Nov-March Mon-Sat 1-5pm, Sun 3-5pm; £2/¬2.54). Home to the
Kilkenny Archeological Society museum , and a costume gallery of
waistcoats, bonnets and gowns from the eighteenth century onwards, the
building itself is a unique example of an Irish Tudor merchant's home
dating back to 1594, and comprises three separate houses linked by
interconnecting courtyards. There is also a genealogical research centre
here for those wanting to trace their roots locally.
Also on Parliament Street you can visit Kilkenny Brewery (June-Aug
Mon-Fri at 3pm). Although you won't get a tour, they do at least show a
video of the production process, followed by tasting in the cellar bar.
It's free, but only fifty tickets are available each day; these can be
picked up in advance at the security gate.
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