Kilkenny: Beautiful Medieval City & Home to Smithwick's Beer!

If you want to immerse yourself in medieval Ireland, you must visit the city of Kilkenny. The city is nestled along the Nore River, between the stately Kilkenny Castle on one end and the Cathedral which sits on a hill at the other end.  It is famous for its many medieval buildings and is referred to as the Marble City after the black polished limestone ['marble'] that was quarried around the city. It holds ancient city status due to having a cathedral and an old royal charter dating from 1609.

We were fortunate to have booked the beautiful Kilkenny River Court Hotel, with its fantastic view of Kilkenny Castle, right across the river.  Not only are the rooms comfortable, but the location of the hotel is perfect.  You can walk right across the bridge to the old town.  In fact, Kilkenny old town is very walkable and even though we had a little rain, we managed to walk almost every inch of the ancient part of the city.

Photo above courtesy of Kilkenny River Court Hotel Website

Naturally, one of your fist stops will be Kilkenny Castle and it certainly was for us as well.  The castle situated on the bend of the Nore River is built from local gray limestone.  The exterior walls are topped with battlements and anchored by huge drum towers at the corners. 

Richard de Clare (Strongbow) built the first wooden fort on the site in 1172 to defend the river crossing.  His son-law, William le Mareschal built the stone castle which continued to evolve into the 17th century vision you see today. You can self-tour the rooms which are now restored to look as they did in Victorian times. 

Interestingly, the Butler family (the Earls of Ormond), bought the castle and the Lordship of Kilkenny in 1392. The Butlers lived in Kilkenny for the next 600 years and the long gallery is lined with portraits of the Butlers through the ages.

Across the street from the castle are  the old stables.  They have been turned into the Kilkenny Design Center where local artists and artisans work and sell their art and crafts.

You will feel like you are transported back in time as you stroll up the curving High Street and wander the narrow colorful shop-lined lanes which are connected with small arched medieval “slips” or alleyways, some of them so steep that they require steps. There are some wonderful restaurants and cafes hidden along those slips. 

We found a few pubs where the atmosphere was cozy and historic and since it was a rainy day, we spent some time patronizing them! 

The pub with the best story behind it is the 13th century Kyteler’s Inn.  The stone cellars of this pub are fun place to have a beer or dinner. As the story goes, it was in this place that Alice Kyteler, the famed Witch of Kilkenny was born.  She was charged with being a witch in 1324.  Witnesses claimed they saw her performing spells and she was convicted and sentenced to death.  Alice managed to escape, but left her poor maidservant, Petronella, behind to be burned at the stake as her substitute.

We also popped into and the Pumphouse, during our rainy afternoon of sightseeing just to periodically dry off and the pub was incredibly charming with a friendly bartender to chat with and a crackling fire to warm ourselves by.  Of course a pint of the local Smithwick’s helped to warm our tummies!  

Smithwick’s is brewed at the St. Francis Abbey Brewery, which has been part of Kilkenny life for 290 years and is Ireland’s oldest brewery.  Smithwick’s was first brewed in 1710. By the 1920s, it had become Ireland’s most popular ale, a position it still holds according to the brewery.

Heading back out, even though the weather was a bit gloomy, we managed to visit several of the medieval gems in the old city. We loved our self-guided tour of the Rothe House Museum, which was built between 1594 -1610, and was originally the home of a wealthy merchant.  You will definitely want to see this home.

The Rothe Family, along with less than a dozen other wealthy families, controlled Kilkenny’s trade and dominated its civic government from the late Middle Ages until the 17th Century.

The house was expanded over the decades as the family grew both in size and wealth and they literally built three houses one behind the other.  The first house was completed in 1594 and this is where John Rothe carried out his business as a merchant and lived upstairs with his family. The second house was completed in 1604 and included additional family living space.

The third house, which was also two floors, was completed 1610 and included a kitchen on the ground floor with a large hearth and bake oven.  Behind all of these additions was the garden which contained an orchard, herb and vegetable gardens, a pigeon house, a well, and a summer house.

The house is a wonderful look into the home life of a wealthy 17th century family in Ireland.

Turning onto Abbey Street, we went on to the Black Abbey intentionally built outside the medieval city gates, which was established in 1225 as one of the first houses of the Dominican Order in Ireland.  The name Black Abbey is based on the fact that the Dominicans were often referred to as "Black Friars" on account of the black cloak which they wear over their white habits.

In 1540, when Ireland was under the rule of the protestant queen, Elizabeth I of England, the property of the priory was confiscated by the crown.  Over the next three hundred years, the Abbey and its Benedictine Friars faced many challenges as England’s rule veered from Protestant to Catholic and back again, a number of times.

In the 19th century, extensive restoration and reconstruction of the nave was performed, which made possible the re-consecration of the abbey in 1864.  The jewel colored stained glass window in the apse called the “Rosary Window” is from that period.

The last place we visited was St. Canice’s Cathedral.  The cathedral was built in the 13th century, on the earlier site of a monastery founded in the 6th century and named after St Canice.  The tower that stands beside the current cathedral is a well-preserved Celtic Christian round tower from the 9th-century. This tower is one of only two medieval round towers in Ireland that can be climbed to the top but you need to use ladders and the rainy day prevented us from climbing it.

The interior of the cathedral is beautiful with vaulted ceilings, Romanesque arches, Gothic windows and intricately designed wooden choir.  Kilkenny was the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Ossory and the ancient stone of enthronement for bishops is hidden under the seat of the medieval throne in the North Transept.  To this day the bishops of Ossory are enthroned there.

The cathedral contains some of the finest ancient tomb monuments in Ireland, including one to Bishop David, and the tombs of many bishops of Ossory.  The Dukes of Ormond (the Butlers) and several owners of Kilkenny Castle are buried there.

Strangely, tucked up against a wall is the tombstone of a member of the Kyteler family which was made famous by the witch Alice Kyteler.  It was found in 1894 and brought to the cathedral. 

The cathedral was deserted the entire time we wandered through it so we felt free to take our time investigating all the nooks and chapels of the lovely old church and by the time we were finished the rain had stopped and we walked back along the river toward our hotel in the setting sun. 

Just in time to look for delisious Irish, Beef and Guinness Stew at Pordylos, (a country french restaurant!) and later, another Smithwick’s at one of Kilkenny's wonderful old pubs!