Things to do in County Kilkenny

Annaghs Castle is a ruined tower house in County Kilkenny, part of the remarkable concentration of medieval fortified residences that characterises this historically rich county in southeast Ireland. Kilkenny was among the most thoroughly colonised parts of medieval Ireland, with Anglo-Norman settlers establishing a dense network of manors, market boroughs and tower houses from the twelfth century onward. The tall rectangular tower house form, efficient of space and relatively affordable, became the standard lordly residence from the fifteenth century. The county's exceptional density of surviving examples makes Kilkenny one of the finest destinations for medieval castle heritage in Ireland.

Ballinlaw Castle is one of the lesser-known fortified sites of southeast Ireland, belonging to the long-established tradition of Irish tower houses that spread widely across the country between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. Standing in the countryside of the Waterford and Kilkenny region, it forms part of the dense network of defended residences that once ordered this fertile and politically contested landscape. These were not isolated monuments in their own day but working parts of a system of local authority in which stone and height communicated power and the capacity for self-defence. The castle's primary role would have been to protect its occupants while asserting control over nearby land and the communities that worked it. Medieval and early modern authority was often visual as well as military. To build in stone and to build vertically was to make a statement that a particular family held influence in this district and intended to maintain it. The tower house declared the identity and ambition of its owner to anyone approaching across the surrounding fields, and Ballinlaw would have been read in exactly those terms by those who passed within sight of it. Although many of the finer architectural details may now be lost to weathering and the slow dismantling of ruins for building material that affected so many Irish tower houses over the centuries, the basic logic of the structure remains legible. Tower houses were economical in plan but formidable in effect. Their strong verticality, narrow access arrangements and durable masonry allowed them to serve households across several centuries and survive the political disruptions that repeatedly restructured landownership in this region, particularly during the confiscations and replantings of the seventeenth century. The Waterford and Kilkenny area is one of Ireland's richest regions for medieval heritage, with major sites including Kilkenny Castle, Jerpoint Abbey, the Rock of Cashel and the walled city of Waterford within reasonable distance. Ballinlaw Castle adds to that picture as a surviving fragment of the rural medieval landscape, preserving the memory of a countryside once ordered by local fortified seats.

Ballybur Castle is a five storey 16th century tower house situated about 5 miles south of the city of Kilkenny. The castle is a five storey keep measuring 38 feet by 30 feet at the base and stands 65 feet tall. The windows are narrow, but the deeply angled window sills make the rooms brighter than you might expect. Compared with other similar square tower houses, Ballybur has larger rooms and wider stairs than most. Ballybur Castle has been restored and is now a luxury self-catering holiday home. Facilities Ballybur Castle can be rented for self-catering holidays throughout the year, and can be rented for long weekends or a whole week, with longer lettings also possible. Visitors have exclusive to the castle which comfortably sleeps eight people and can cater for up to twelve. Full catering and cleaning can also be provided. Ballybur Castle caters for a variety of events, and is an ideal location for special occasions, such as a wedding, honeymoon, corporate function or gala dinners. Ballybur Castle was built by Richard Comerford around 1588. It was a typical fortified house built to protect against rival factions. The Comerfords occupation of the castle came to an end in 1654 when John Comerford was forced out. He subsequently forfeited the castle and land to Brian Manseragh during the Cromwellian land distribution survey. Brian Manseragh is an ancestor of Martin Manseragh, the senator from Tipperary. Frank and Aifric Gray bought Ballybur in 1970, by which time it had fallen into disrepair with the roof missing. They received assistance for the renovations from the Kilkenny County Council, the Heritage Council and from the Barrow Suir Development. The castle is now completely refurbished.

Ballyragget Castle is situated in the town of Ballyragget, about 18km from Kilkenny on the N77. Ballyragget Castle, also known as Butler Castle, is a ruined square tower house. It has defensive wall with corner towers. It is named after the Norman, Richard Le Ragget, who owned the land in the 13th century. Facilities The castle is on private land and is not open to the public. Ballyragget Castle was built in 1495 by the Mountgarret family. In 1600 it was garrisoned by Sir George Carew against the Mountgarrets who were in opposition to the crown. The castle was once a residence of Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, the Countess of Ormonde.

Burnchurch Castle is situated about 4 miles south west of Kilkenny and 6km from Ballybur, off the Clonmel Road. Burnchurch is a six storey tower house. The castle was originally attached to a walled courtyard, most of which has now disappeared, apart from a 40 foot high tower at one corner. The castle has an unusual complexity of passages and chambers inside the walls, including a hidden room in the wall of the fourth floor.. There used to be great hall attached to an outside wall of the tower which has now gone. There is a vault under the castle above which is the main chamber. Access to the upper three floors is via an outside staircase. Other notable features include mullioned windows, a fine carved fireplace and a round chimney which may have been a later addition. Facilities The castle is accessible to the public and can be explored. The castle was built in the 15th century as a Norman tower house with a round gate tower, by the Burnchurch family (a branch of the Fitzgeralds). The castle was occupied until 1817. In 1993, Burnchurch Castle and Tower became a National Monument.

Clara Castle near Thomastown in County Kilkenny is one of the finest surviving medieval tower houses in Ireland, a six-storey building retaining original wooden floors, fireplaces, window seats, a spiral stair and much of its internal fabric in exceptional condition. Built in the early fifteenth century by the Shortall family, the six-storey height is unusual even among Irish tower houses and the remarkable level of preservation offers an unparalleled insight into the domestic arrangements of a prosperous medieval family. The surrounding Nore valley, with Jerpoint Abbey and the walled town of Thomastown, is one of the richest and most scenically beautiful heritage landscapes in Ireland.

Clomantagh Castle is situated near Freshford, 8 miles north of Kilkenny in the centre of Ireland. Clomantagh Castle is a 15th century tower house with a 19th century farmhouse and medieval dovecote; it is surrounded by defensive walls and within the grounds of a working farm. The castle and house are linked on the ground and first floors, and what is thought to be the part of the wall belonging to the medieval banqueting hall can bee seen above the roofline of the farmhouse attached to the tower. The lime washed Victorian farmhouse is now situated on the site where the banqueting hall originally stood. The only change made to the original building is the roofing material which was changed to slate from the original thatch. Facilities Clomantagh Castle is available as self catering accommodation sleeping 10 people in 5 bedrooms. The castle site is particularly interesting because it has been restored to show both the tower in the medieval times of the 1430's, and the farmhouse in the 1800's. The kitchen with is high ceilings and flagstone floor has a cooking range, farm dresser and large kitchen table typical of Irish county living of the period. The kitchen is linked to one of the bedrooms via a stone staircase and has an original cast iron four poster bed. Clomantagh Castle was home to the Earl of Ormond, Pierce Ruadh. When he died in 1539 the castle along with other properties was passed to his son Richard Butler, first Viscount Mountgarret. The castle and its estate stayed in the Butler family until it was forfeited during the war with Cromwell to Lieutenant Arthur St. George. After the war the castle changed hands twice more and a farmhouse was added by the Shortall family; the owners in the 1800's, before its last owner Willie White a local vet. The property is now owned by a non profit making charity called the Landmark Trust who preserve historic buildings.

Dysart Castle is a ruined tower house near Thomastown in County Kilkenny, in the fertile Nore valley landscape exceptionally rich in medieval remains. One of many tower houses reflecting the prosperity of this agricultural region, Dysart sits within striking distance of Jerpoint Abbey, one of the finest Cistercian ruins in Ireland. The Nore valley between Thomastown and Inistioge is celebrated for its scenic beauty, with wooded riverbanks, historic bridges and a series of estate demesnes. Kilkenny offers an exceptional density of medieval heritage making the Nore valley one of the most rewarding areas for medieval history in Ireland.

Foulksrath Castle is located in Jenkinstown, south of Ballyragget, 8 miles from the city of Kilkenny. It is set amongst open fields and woodland. The castle is a 15th century Anglo Norman tower house set over 5 storeys in 2 acres of land. It has retained its huge stone fireplaces and spiral staircase and from the first floor it is possible to gain access via a secret passage to the roof with its views across Jenkinstown. The castle is well preserved and its boundary wall and tower still survive along with a gate lodge and pigeon loft house. The tower now has a pitched roof over the centre and the crenellated battlements are still accessible. Facilities Until the end of October 2009 Foulksrath Castle was one of the oldest Youth Hostels in Ireland. The hostel is now closed and the property up for sale by its owners. The property was able to accommodate 52 visitors. The castle was built in 1616 by the Purcell clan and the property stayed within the family for over 300 years. During the latter years the family were forced to live in outbuildings as peasants after the castle was confiscated by Cromwell's troops during the Conquest of Ireland. The castle fell into disrepair and had a demolition order served upon it in 1946 but thanks to the local community the castle was saved. It was renovated and opened as a hostel in 1948. The hostel was put up for sale in May 2009 and closed its doors for the last time on the 31 October. The castles owners An Oige are selling the property for offers in the region of €750,000.00. Legends It is believed that there are two ghosts in the castle. The first being the daughter of Dean Swift, one of the castles owners. Allegedly she fell in love and her father locked her away in the 'Cuckoo's Nest' to prevent the lovers from seeing one another before he eventually killed her. The other ghost being a woman who was killed by her lover who spreads the scent of lilacs; maybe they are one and the same person?

Gorteens Castle is a ruined tower house in County Kilkenny, a modest but historically genuine fortification in the medieval landscape of south Kilkenny. Representing the lower end of the tower house tradition, Gorteens was the residence of a lesser gentry family seeking defensible accommodation without the scale of a major castle. The county of Kilkenny's prosperity, derived from fertile agricultural land and the wool and hide trade, supported a large economically active population whose medieval remains include castles of every scale. The nearby towns of Thomastown, Inistioge and New Ross across the Kilkenny border are historic settlements of considerable interest.

Inistioge is one of the most beautiful village destinations in Ireland, a small settlement on the River Nore in County Kilkenny whose tree-lined village square, the medieval bridge of ten arches across the Nore, the ruined Augustinian priory and the beautiful wooded valley setting create a destination of considerable charm that has attracted film companies and artists who recognise in it the perfect image of a traditional Irish village. The ten-arched bridge of 1763 crossing the river below the village is one of the finest examples of Georgian bridge building in Leinster. The wooded valley of the Nore at Inistioge, with the river visible through the trees from the village and the walking in the woodlands of the Woodstock estate above providing access to the extraordinary nineteenth-century formal gardens that are being restored from dereliction, creates a destination of unusual depth that rewards extended exploration. The Woodstock Gardens, designed in the Italian and French styles in the nineteenth century and currently being restored by the local council, contain remarkable tree specimens and structural gardens of considerable ambition. The Augustinian priory above the village, founded in the thirteenth century and dissolved in the sixteenth, retains its tower and some church walls in a setting of ivy-covered charm above the bridge and the village square. Inistioge appears in the Tina Turner film What's Love Got to Do with It and in several other productions that have used the village as the ideal of a Kilkenny river village.

Jerpoint Abbey near Thomastown in County Kilkenny is the finest Cistercian abbey ruin in Ireland and one of the most impressive medieval ecclesiastical sites in the country, a Cistercian monastery of the twelfth century whose combination of the substantial surviving architecture, the remarkable medieval sculptured cloister arcade and the quality of the carved stonework throughout creates a heritage visit of exceptional quality in the beautiful valley of the River Nore. The Office of Public Works manages the abbey and the quality of the interpretation provided enhances what is already an architecturally outstanding site. The cloister arcade of Jerpoint Abbey is the most celebrated feature of the site, a series of medieval carved figures on the cloister piers that provide the finest and most extensive example of medieval figurative sculpture in any Irish monastic ruin. The carved figures include saints, knights, bishops and a remarkable series of hybrid creatures combining human and animal characteristics in the tradition of medieval manuscript marginalia translated into stone, and the variety and quality of the carving provides a window into the artistic imagination of the medieval Cistercian community that inhabited this abbey. The abbey church, with its Romanesque crossing tower and the remains of the transepts and chancel, preserves substantial elements of the twelfth-century building campaign in a quality of preservation that allows the architecture of this important early Cistercian building to be appreciated clearly. The combination of the architecture and the sculpture makes Jerpoint one of the essential heritage visits in Kilkenny.

Kilkenny Castle dominates the city of Kilkenny from its commanding position above the River Nore, a massive Anglo-Norman fortress and subsequently the principal seat of the Butler earls and dukes of Ormond for centuries. The surviving three towers, great hall, long gallery with its hammer-beam roof and portrait collection, and Victorian domestic apartments offer one of the most complete sequences of castle interiors in Ireland. Transferred to the Irish people for a symbolic sum in 1967 and managed by the Office of Public Works, the castle is surrounded by a public park forming the green heart of one of Ireland's finest medieval cities.

Kilmurry Castle is a ruined tower house in south County Kilkenny near Slieveroe, in the flat agricultural lowlands close to the Three Sisters river confluence where the Nore and Barrow rivers meet. The castle formed part of the dense network of Anglo-Norman fortified residences in the fertile south Kilkenny landscape, reflecting the agricultural prosperity and competitive social environment of later medieval Leinster within the orbit of the great Butler earls of Ormond. The south Kilkenny coastline where the rivers meet the tidal estuary supports populations of wildfowl and waders making it one of the more rewarding wildlife observation areas in the southeast.

Mountgarret Castle is situated near the roadside on a hill overlooking New Ross The castle is a ruined square tower, partly overgrown with vegetation. It was originally one of a number of Norman fortresses guarding the river Barrow. The remains are about three storeys high. One wall of the 600 year old keep collapsed in 2010. Facilities It was the home of Patrick Barrett, Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Bishop of Ferns, who rebuilt and reconstructed the castle in the early part of the fifteenth century. Mountgarret Castle is believed to have been built around 1400 for Patrick Barrett, the Bishop of Ferns and the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. It was given by Henry VIII to Sir Richard Butler, who was given the title Viscount Mountgarrett in 1550 for his work as constable of Ferns Castle. Mountgarret Castle was given to William Ivory in the Cromwellian Redistribution after the Civil Wars. In 1666, the castle was granted back to Edmund, Viscount Mountgarrett and remained with the Mountgarretts until the 12th Viscount died without heir in 1793.