Historic Cities · Ireland

Kilkenny through the ages

Kilkenny 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.

1620 · ireland's marble city

Kilkenny in 1620

The Marble City

Kilkenny in 1620 is a prosperous inland borough caught between the fortified Ormond castle and the cathedral hill of St Canice, where Hiberno‑Norman merchants and Irish clergy share the streets. The walk moves from the river approach and bridge, along the long High Street with its new merchant houses and market cross, and finishes on the cathedral hill with a wide view over the Nore valley.

The town’s silhouette is a compact jumble of steep gables, crenellated castle walls and the tall Romanesque mass of St Canice with its round tower; narrow streets rise from the river and open briefly onto a long High Street. Roofs are thatch and tile, walls of red sandstone, limestone and dark local marble used for pavements and shop thresholds. River Nore quays line low workshops and mills; arcaded merchant houses and narrow alleys create a varied play of sun and shadow.

The route: 15 streets, squares and views

Kilkenny Castle View → Nore Bridge → Castle Bank and Swans → High Street (north end) → Market Cross → Rothe House (arcade) → The Tholsel → Kyteler's Inn → Black Abbey Tower → St Francis Abbey → …

Step inside, 9 interiors

Long Gallery · Arcaded Courtyard Chamber · Merchant Hall · Inn Kitchen Hearth · Abbey Choir · Chapter House · Wheelhouse and Gears · Riverside Warehouse · South Aisle of Effigies

Explore Kilkenny in 1620 →24 scenes · 360 Clan Coins

Planned from the Wikipedia record: Kilkenny.

From the archive

Kilkenny on paper: the old town as it was mapped.

A period plan or bird's-eye view of the old town, drawn between 1500 and 1850 — the streets this page's reconstructions walk. Public domain, with its source named.