County Kilkenny
County Kilkenny (Irish: Contae Chill Chainnigh) is in Southeast Ireland, in the province of Leinster. It is a land-locked county, surrounded by the counties of Carlow, Laois, Wexford, Waterford and Tipperary. It has a population of 95,000.
Cities
Cities
Towns
- 2 Ballyragget - small town really off the tourist trail. It has a nice square and a fine Roman Catholic church just behind the square.
- 3 Callan - check out The Moat, a great example of a Motte-and-bailey, and visit the childhood home of Edmund Rice, the founder of the Irish Christian Brothers.
- 4 Castlecomer - The main town in north Kilkenny. Coal was mined here for over 300 years. Visit Castlecomer Discover Park and Footprints in Coal Experience to learn more.
- 5 Mooncoin - A beautiful town near Waterford City, made famous by the song "The Rose of Mooncoin".
- 6 Thomastown - On the river Nore, this town is famous for Jerpoint Abbey, Kilfane Glen gardens, and Mount Juliet Golf Course.
Villages
- Bennettsbridge
- Coolcullen
- Coon
- 1 Freshford
- Gowran
- 2 Graignamanagh - Home of Duiske Abbey, Graiguenamanagh is a popular place for walking and hillclimbing. The town itself is very pretty.
- 3 Inistioge - a beautiful little village on the river Nore. It was the setting for the film "Circle of Friends". It has a lovely square. It also has an impressive multi span stone bridge. Just above the village, are Woodstock Gardens, which are being restored to period 1840 - 1890.
- 4 Kells
- Knocktopher
- Piltown - the only place in Ireland to see battle in the Wars of the Roses. A pretty village famous for its "Tower" also known as Sham Castle.
- Tullaroan
- Urlingford
Understand
Tourist Information
Kilkenny Tourist Office is located on Rose Inn St, in Kilkenny City. It has lots of information about the city and county.
Climate
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Kilkenny is in the centre of The Sunny South East. It has the most extreme climate in Ireland mainly because it is not affected by the sea, but don't get too worried. The highest recorded temperature ever was 33.3°C. There is on average, 4 days of snow a year.
Get in
By train
Six or more trains a day run between Dublin Heuston and Waterford Plunkett, stopping at Kildare, Carlow, Muine Bheag (Bagenalstown), Kilkenny MacDonagh and Thomastown.
Look online for timetables and tickets.
Get around
- Roads
- Train
See
- Jenkinstown Park 10 km north of Kilkenny is an attractive forest park, carpeted by bluebells in April.
- There are four Heritage Ireland sites in the county. A heritage card valid for a year costs adult €21, senior citizen €16, student €8, family €55.
- - Jerpoint Abbey is a fine Cistercian ruin in Thomastown.
- - Kilkenny Castle is the imposing Norman Castle dominating Kilkenny.
- - Dunmore Caves are 10 km north of Kilkenny.
- - St Mary's Church in Gowran, 11 km east of Kilkenny, is 13th century.
Do
- Brandon Hill, Graiguenamanagh. The highest mountain in County Kilkenny is an easy climb of 515m (1,6790ft). At the top there great views of the surrounding counties. There is a cairn, an old cross and a plaque pointing out the features in the surrounding landscape.
- Walk the South Leinster Way. This is a walk that covers 102km(64miles) from Kildavin, Co Carlow to Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. It passes through medieval towns and ancient sites, river valleys, forests and by the slopes of Mount Leinster.
- Golf is very popular, the best known course being Mount Juliet in Thomastown. There are other courses in Kilkenny, Callan and elsewhere.
Eat
Drink
Kilkenny is famous for two beers: the Kilkenny beer and the Smithwicks ale.
Cope
Newspapers
- Kilkenny People. Weekly paper, out Wednesday. This is the largest selling newspaper in the South East. Covers Kilkenny city and county, with news, sports, property and entertainment listings. James Joyce referred to this paper in Ulysses.
Radio
Kilkenny is served by one local radio station, which also serves Carlow. 96FM has news on the hour.
Go next
- The Rock of Cashel in Tipperary was the seat of the Kings of Munster for hundreds of years. There are runes of a Cathedral and a round tower on the rock.
- If the weather is nice, have a day at the beach at Dunmore East, Tramore or Courtown