Kilkenny Castle is a popular tourist destination and place worth to visit, especially since photography is allowed.
The history of Kilkenny Castle dates back to the 12th century. As my previous post was dedicated to the Vikings, let’s start from there.
First recorded raid by Norwegian Vikings happened in 795. Among the attacked monasteries was the one on the Skeillig Michael Island – the star location of The Last Jedi movie, and home for a Puffin colony. In 902 Irish kings joined forces to expel the Vikings from Ireland but it didn’t happen until the 12th century when they took control over the Viking towns and wisely decided to let them flourish as centres of international trade. The descendants of Vikings are last mentioned in the Irish historic records in 1311.
The Kings had disputes between them. In 1167, notorious King of Leinster Dermot MacMurrough was deprived of his kingdom by the High King of Ireland Rory O’Connor and fled to France. To recover his kingdom he gained the military support of the Earl Richard de Clare, known as “Strongbow” who agreed to lead his army to Ireland, took control over the East coast, and in exchange for his aid married MacMurrough’s daughter Aoife in August 1170, the day after the capture of Waterford.
In 1172, Strongbow built a wooden tower overlooking the River Nore. It is when the history of Kilkenny Castle begins.
Twenty years later, his son-in-law William Marshal erected the four towered stone castle on the site, of which three towers still remain.
I just have to tell a few words about this remarkable man. A younger son of a minor nobleman, William had to make his own way in life. He began his training as a knight at the age of twelve, and was knighted eight years later. He married Aoife and Strongbow’s only daughter Isabel when she was 18 and he was over 40, and their marriage was long and happy. Thanks to the marriage, he inherited vast amount of land in Wales and Ireland and became one of the richest and most powerful men. William had served five kings as a military advisor praised for his wisdom and honesty, survived many battles and died a Knight’s Templar, aged 72. Archbishop of Canterbury called him the greatest knight who had ever lived.
In 1317, the de Clare family sold Kilkenny Castle to Hugh Despenser who unfortunately got himself hanged, drawn and quartered. In 1391, the castle was seized by Richard II and sold to the Butler family who occupied the castle from 1391 until 1935. After the Butlers sold all the furnishing in 1935, the castle began to fall into disrepair. In 1967, James Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde, sold the castle to the city of Kilkenny for 50 pounds. At the key handover ceremony, young Mick Jagger made appearance dressed in some sort of cape. There is a photograph of him and a young lady, both holding paper plates with snacks.
Here you can read about the development of the castle under the Butler family.
I am sharing a few photographs to showcase amazing restoration work done to bring the castle to life again.
The Dining room.
The Withdrawing room. The ladies withdrew from the Dining room leaving the men to enjoy their port and cigars.
The Library.
The Tapestry room.
Blue bedroom.
This remarkable item is much bigger than the modern ones. It dates from 1904 and is original to the castle.
The Victorian Nursery. This room had remained unopened to the public since used by the Butler family in the 1950s, until 2014.
Looks creepy to me 🙂
I don’t know what is the name of this room, but I love the aquamarine furniture and wallpaper.
Couldn’t miss taking a bird view picture of the Castle back yard with St Canice’s Cathedral and Black Abbey in background.
The Moorish Staircase, on the way to the Picture Gallery.
And this is the magnificent Picture Gallery built in the early 19th century.
Initially the gallery was built with flat roof that started leaking shortly after its completion. The new roof was criticized for its Byzantine looks, but I don’t see any problem with that 🙂
Original picture collection consisted of almost 200 ancestral and royal paintings and pastoral landscapes. I didn’t take photographs of the paintings because they were artificially lit and the light reflected from the surface creating spots. I wonder if such light can be damaging.
In the gallery there are some pieces of furniture, tapestry and a beautiful marble fireplace.
All the information about the ticket prices and hours you can find on the Kilkenny Castle website that will be timely updated, unlike this post 🙂
And this is what Kilkenny Castle looks from the other side of the lawn.
I hope you enjoyed the excursion.
PS The images of the castle interior used in this post are not for sale.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Making memories 
Those vikings were there, too, I see! Perfect segue from your last post, Inese…. my imagination is running mad again 🙂 I do like that creepy doll! Lol. What a majestic castle!! It would be hard not to curtsy as one entered each amazing room.
My thought exactly! My knees started bending when I handed my ticket 😀
OH MY GOSH OH I MY GOSH! I was there! Actually there, on that green, in…in…when the heck was that…2007? Think so. ! I didn’t have the money to do the tour, but I peeked about best I could. Oh Inese, you take me back! If my family can ever afford the journey overseas, we are DEFINITELY visiting that castle. 🙂 xxxxxxxxxxxx
So delighted to hear that! You might have seen the picture gallery, because it used to be green years ago. I too was confused when I found it being red 🙂 The tickets are quite affordable these days. I think I paid much more in 2002 xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
That’s good to hear! Yes, I recall a large green room….hmm, perhaps that was the gallery!
What a fascinating history, Inese. I’m always shocked to hear about these marvelous places being abandoned and left to ruin – probably because we don’t have castles in the US. I’m so glad this one was restored and opened to the public. What an amazing step back in time. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Diana! It is all about money – the owners simply have no money to maintain castles 😦 Though there are a few smaller castles and so-called ‘big houses’ in Ireland still occupied.
I don’t think I could afford a castle either. Ha ha. But I’d try! 😀
🙂
How did I miss this? I think we were away that weekend. Anyway, lovely and that one of the gallery with the new roof is so like the Victorian gallery in our local museum. You did it again–a lovely walk xx
Thank you, this is a new one, you haven’t missed anything. I only have put up three blogs since I returned to the world of living 🙂 xx
That’s okay. I am not very good with dates Inese !!!!!
What a place! It’s it fabulous that we have such a colourful history in our countries? I love castles! The walls could tell a thousand stories 🙂 Great post xx
Thank you! 🙂 History fascinates me, and so does the fact that some day we will become a history too. Hope we leave something beautiful after us 🙂
Me too! Just wish I’d paid more attention at school because I can’t get enough of it now 🙂 x
So true 🙂
Thanks for the tour and lecture! I think the nursery looks creepy too!
Haha, I should have kept the picture for Halloween.
An impressive-looking castle and the restoration work is wonderful. It has such an interesting and colourful history, too. We can’t get away from Vikings for long, can we? Interesting to know of William Marshal’s connections to Kilkenny as well. There’s always so much history behind these lovely old castles, Inese, and I really enjoyed your tour.
Thank you so much, Millie! William Marshal was an exceptional man. I have mentioned him in my blog before, and probably will in the future as he owned the most famous landmarks in the East and South East of Ireland 🙂
Thanks so much, Inese. I’ve always loved castles and can’t resist visiting any around, so I’ll put this one on my list, for whenever I go back to Ireland. Gorgeous pictures! ♥
Thank you Olga! If you a coming for a short trip, by chance, there is a Malachide castle near Dublin, access by a city bus. I don’t have any photographs of the interior as I visited it decades ago and photography was not allowed at that time.
Love the Picture Gallery and the Moorish staircase. 🙂 🙂 It’s unusual to be able to take photos inside these days, so thanks for sharing. One of my walking friends has family very close by Kilkenny so it’s nice to see.
I think they just gave up as people have been taking pictures secretly using their phones anyway. Photography is allowed in most museums these days, except flash photography and commercial photography and video.
What a fascinating tour, Inese. It was fun to tag along. Hugs.
Thank you for joining the tour! 🙂
Thank you for a fantastic tour. The place and restauration are fabulous. There is so much history in Europe isn’t there?
Glad to see you gradually back into posting.
Hope all is getting better (never mind however slowly!)
🙂
Thank you Brian 🙂 Force myself to posting twice a month, but still a challenge.
Good. That is a reasonable goal. 🙂
(And whoever said Life is easy was a liar.) 🙂
Be good my dear. You will pull through.
Thank you Brian.
I suspect for much of its 900-year history (a near inconceivable span here in the new world) that the castle wasn’t quite that grand. Still, not a bad place to hang your hat.
I agree with you. All the glamour came into the picture between the 18-19 century. As anywhere else in the world 😀
And not long after that nobody could afford to keep up the castles anymore.
See the connection? 😉
It’s great to see these gorgeous castles being restored and used as tourist attractions. So many ancient towns and buildings here in Italy are just left to ruin.
It is the same here. Many buildings were purposely destroyed as they became a danger because of their bad state.
In Brisbane during the 1980s, many heritage-listed buildings were bulldozed during the night to make way for Developers’ buildings, as we had a corrupt politician. Mind you the buildings were only a couple of centuries’ old.
What a shame. As if there was no other land 😦
Yeah, so true, like Australia is really small!
Exactly 😦
The huge mining companies in bed with our politicians are also destroying 40,000-year old Aboriginal art – this is tragic.
This should be a matter of UN discussion. These treasures belong to all the humanity, and we all should have a say.
Agree, but Australia is good at hiding things until it’s too late, if you know what I mean.
I guess I know.
What an amazing place – and to think that the Butlers could just let it sit there empty…. reminds me a bit of Downton Abbey…
When the roof started to deteriorate, it was the time to sell the interior. They needed money so I heard. Who has money enough to maintain such a building these days?..
a beautifully restored castle
holiday i’m happy to have shared!
i could enjoy an extended visit
to just one of those rooms 🙂
Thank you! 🙂 I wouldn’t! I think the rooms are infested with ghosts 🙂
But for you who would have let me have a wisp of Kilkenny? Even after all those changes down the centuries, the place seems to have clung to its doughty if chequered spirit. Impeccable shots, as usual.
Thank you so much! The history was complicated, but Kilkenny people remained fighters. You should see their ferocious Kilkenny Cats hurling team. The legends!
What a fabulous place! Thank you so much for showing us around, Inese! I love that photos were allowed, it´s sadly not always the case, is it? The grounds and views are wonderful but what I really enjoyed was looking inside this time – all those wonderful rooms with their high ceilings, beautiful furniture and tapestries! The Moorish Staircase is my favourite I think, and the loo was a hoot! 😀 xxxxxxxxxxxx
Sarah, the loo is one of my favorites first of all because of its size. We all know that people were smaller in size a century ago. So, why this gigantic pot? Enigma. I didn’t want to ask the staff though. Didn’t want to leave a bad impression 😉 xxxxxxxxxxx
I’m not even sure if they’d know why. And maybe it’s better to leave some things in the dark. 😉 If it had been from the early middle ages my guess were that the size would have allowed for a person better to hide in them or escape through them. In any way it’s a fascinating subject! 😁 xxxxxxxxx
Sarah, what a great idea! Hidden escape! It makes sense 🙂 This toilet bowl was installed in 1904. xxxxxxxxxxxx
You can blame my overactive fantasy for this idea. 😉 xxxxxxxxxx
It is why you are so good writing the Count Harecula stories xxxxxx
Aww – you remember my Count… 😄 Thank you so much, Inese, you don’t know what this means to me. I took his stories from my blog because I hope I can turn it into a real book and maybe even get it published someday, so he feels rather lonely with me being his only audience to his antics.😉 xxxxxxxx
He has my ❤
And you his! ❤❤❤🐇
❤
Lovely place. I like seeing the rooms people lived in back in those days.
Some people ! 😉 It was probably the richest family at that time. I might write about them some day.
Your photos take me to another world. Loved the stone facade of the castle and the manicured gardens. The doll looks really creepy though! 😦
Thank you for joining the tour! They have a display of the photographs showing the state of the castle when it was acquired by the city. I think it is safe to say that the castle was rebuilt 🙂
Thank you so much for a wonderful tour:)