A medieval city famed for its pubs, John Crowley found Kilkenny undergoing
a spirited revival.
Our local guide Pat points to a cluster of six pubs on Parliament Street,
near Kilkenny City’s bustling town centre and declares: “It’s called paradise.”
Their bright and colourful facades — punctuated only by a smart-looking
Chinese take-away — certainly are an intoxicating sight.
“This is a pub crawler’s utopia!” Pat exclaims.
To confine my short trip to this little corner of Ireland’s medieval
capital would have done a disservice... namely to the 90 other watering
holes in the locale.
For a population of 18,000 it amounts to one pub for every 200 citizens.
And with two breweries on its doorstep, no wonder the city’s also dubbed
Ireland’s oasis.
Like most population centres in Ireland’s south east, Kilkenny City has
been liberally sprinkled with gold dust from the Celtic Tiger.
So much so that you can almost see the coins (now euros, of course!)
spilling into the River Nore which snakes its way through the city.
Pat informs us the county council is busy restoring timber shopfronts
and the locals, on the Saturday we arrive, walk with a spring in their step,
despite being laden down with shopping bags from the scores of arts and
crafts shops dotted around the area.
It’s fitting that a place so immersed in history should be undergoing
a modern-day renaissance of its own. Even before James I granted the borough
of Kilkenny city status in 1609, it had played a significant role in Ireland’s
tumultuous past.
Deriving its name from the Irish Cill Chainnigh, a sixth century monastic
settlement founded by St. Canice, the area has been a stopping off point
for waves of invaders including Vikings, Anglo-Normans and, inevitably,
the English.
With that in mind history buffs of any repute should first make a bee-line
for Kilkenny Castle, whose battlements dominate the city skyline.
Formerly the seat of the Butler family, the demesne was sold to the state
for the nominal sum of £50 in 1967. Quite a bit of good business as it goes.
Today, the castle is home is a generous smattering of Irish and international
art, which includes works by Jack B. Yeats, Louis Le Brocquy and Walter
Osbourne. It also doubles up as a conference centre.
As the biggest paying attraction in Ireland the castle residence can
get particularly busy in the summer. Stepping inside you soon find out why
— turn into any chamber or bedroom and the whiff of history envelops you.
In 1642, following the Ulster rebellion a year earlier, the castle found
itself the home to a provisional government established under the auspices
of the Catholic Confederation of Kilkenny.
The confederation — which united Catholics of English and Irish descent
— became the country’s seat of power for six years with the castle as one
of its homes. Later, both James II and William of Orange found themselves
honoured guests at the castle on separate occasions.
The estate’s Long Gallery is certainly its most stunning room. Large
enough to swing a Kilkenny cat, or play a hurling match in for that matter,
this narrow hallway boasts some of the building’s best paintings and commands
a superb view of the castle’s ornate gardens.
Earlier, we had taken in some of Kilkenny’s churches, which almost rivals
in number the city’s homely boozers. St. Canice’s Cathedral resides in the
north of the city, but my tip is to pay a visit to the Black Abbey, home
for centuries to a sect of Dominican monks.
We were lucky enough to hear the brothers’ morning chant, echoing soporifically
through the cloisters of this beautiful church.
Later on, we found ourselves at another place of worship, albeit deserted.
Kilkenny city gives away to rich, rolling countryside and the ruins of Jerpoint
Abbey in Thomastown, 12 miles away, is an ideal place for quiet contemplation
now that the marauding Vikings have moved on.
As night closed in it was time to head back and launch a raiding party
of our own on Kilkenny’s public houses.
A pint or two was enjoyed in the hot, sweaty and intimate confines of
Tynans. But far and away the best venue was Langtons. Behind a rather innocuous
outdoor front we discovered a sprawling, cavernous building.
At night it doubles up as a nightclub for 20-somethings out on the lash.
We drank like conquering invaders. And how was it washed down? Why, with
Chinese food of course.
