Portal:County Kilkenny

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The County Kilkenny Portal

A panorama of Kilkenny City in County Kilkenny, Ireland (taken from about 4km west of the town)
A panorama of Kilkenny City in County Kilkenny, Ireland (taken from about 4km west of the town)

County Kilkenny (Irish: Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the county. At the 2022 census the population of the county was 103,685. The county was based on the historic Gaelic kingdom of Ossory (Osraighe), which was coterminous with the Diocese of Ossory. (Full article...)

Selected articles

Green's Bridge on the river Nore in 2010

Green's Bridge, or Greensbridge, is an elegant, Palladian-style, limestone arch bridge that crosses the river Nore in Kilkenny, Ireland. The bridge is a series of five elliptical arches of high-quality carved limestone masonry with a two-arch culvert to the east. Its graceful profile, architectural design value, and civil engineering heritage endow it with national significance. Historian Maurice Craig described it as one of the five-finest bridges in Ireland. It was built by William Colles and designed by George Smith, and was completed in 1766. The bridge was 250 years old in 2016.

The bridge's location on the north side of Kilkenny has been a ford since at least the middle of the 10th century. The first bridge there was built in the 12th century by settlers from Flanders and has been rebuilt many times due to frequent floods. The bridge itself is known from medieval times; it was described as "the Bridge of Kilkenny", "the big bridge of Kilkenny", and "Grines Bridge"; the origin of the name Green's Bridge, however, is uncertain. The "Great Flood of 1763" destroyed the previous bridge.

Green's Bridge was designed by George Smith and built by William Colles. Colles was the owner of a marble works and an inventor of machinery for sawing, boring, and polishing limestone. Smith designed an almost-true copy of the Bridge of Tiberius (Italian: Ponte di Augusto e Tiberio) in Rimini, Italy, as described by Andrea Palladio in I quattro libri dell'architettura (The Four Books of Architecture) (1570). Parapets were added during a renovation in 1835. (Full article...)

Selected history articles

Osraige (Old Irish) or Osraighe (Classical Irish), Osraí (Modern Irish), anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of the Osraige people, it existed from around the first century until the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. It was ruled by the Dál Birn dynasty, whose medieval descendants assumed the surname Mac Giolla Phádraig.

According to tradition, Osraige was founded by Óengus Osrithe in the 1st century and was originally within the province of Leinster. In the 5th century, the Corcu Loígde of Munster displaced the Dál Birn and brought Osraige under Munster's direct control. The Dál Birn returned to power in the 7th century, though Osraige remained nominally part of Munster until 859, when it achieved formal independence under the powerful king Cerball mac Dúnlainge. Osraige's rulers remained major players in Irish politics for the next three centuries, though they never vied for the High Kingship. In the early 12th century, dynastic infighting fragmented the kingdom, and it was re-adjoined to Leinster. The Normans under Strongbow invaded Ireland beginning in 1169, and most of Osraige collapsed under pressure from Norman leader William Marshal. The northern part of the kingdom, eventually known as Upper Ossory, survived intact under the hereditary lordship until the reign of King Henry VIII of England, when it was formally incorporated as a barony of the same name. (Full article...)

Selected landmarks articles

Black Abbey, Kilkenny in 2018

The Black Abbey of Kilkenny, Ireland, is a Catholic priory of the Dominican Order, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Black Abbey was established in 1225 as one of the first houses of the Dominican Order in Ireland.

The history of the Black Abbey is marked by several reversals of fortune under different governments. (Full article...)

Selected geography articles

Iverk (Irish: Uíbh Eirc) is a barony in the south-west of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The size of the barony is 167.3 square kilometres (64.6 sq mi). There are 15 civil parishes in Iverk. The chief town today is Piltown. The N24 crosses the barony. (Full article...)

Main Street

Mullinavat (Irish: Muileann an Bhata, meaning 'the mill of the stick') is a town in south County Kilkenny, Ireland. Its main industries are tourism and agriculture. It has a renowned sporting history, particularly in hurling. The town's name in Irish translates as 'The Mill of the Stick' which, according to local tradition, may refer to a mill which could only be approached by means of a rough stick over the Glendonnel River; today that bridge is located on the main road beside the Garda Barracks. (Full article...)

The River Nore (Irish: An Fheoir ˈn̠ʲoːɾʲ]) is one of the principal rivers (along with the River Suir and River Barrow) in the South-East Region of Ireland. The 140-kilometre-long (87 mi) river drains approximately 2,530 square kilometres (977 sq mi) of Leinster and Munster, that encompasses parts of three counties (Tipperary, Laois, Kilkenny). Along with the River Suir and River Barrow, it is one of the constituent rivers of the group known as the Three Sisters. (Full article...)

Trail near Croaghaun, Blackstairs Mountains

The South Leinster Way is a long-distance trail in Ireland. It is 104 kilometres (65 miles) long and begins in Kildavin, County Carlow and runs through County Kilkenny before ending in Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. It is typically completed in five days. It is designated as a National Waymarked Trail by the National Trails Office of the Irish Sports Council and is jointly managed by Carlow County Council, Kilkenny County Council, Tipperary County Council, Carlow Local Sports Partnership, Kilkenny Trails and Coillte. It was opened on 30 November 1985 by Donal Creed, Minister of State for Sport. (Full article...)

Selected quotation

"If you ever go to Kilkenny, Remember the Hole in the Wall, You may there get drunk for a penny, Or tipsy for nothing at all."
— Unknown, circa 18th Century.

Selected Did you know

Church of Saint John the Evangelist
Church of Saint John the Evangelist

Selected slideshow image

Selected biography articles

"Public Prosecutions"
The Earl of Desart as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, January 1902.

Hamilton John Agmondesham Cuffe, 5th Earl of Desart, KP, KCB, PC (30 August 1848 – 4 November 1934) was an Irish peer and barrister. (Full article...)


James Stephens (Irish: Séamus Mac Stiofáin; 26 January 1825 – 29 March 1901) was an Irish Republican, and the founding member of an originally unnamed revolutionary organisation in Dublin. This organisation, founded on 17 March 1858, was later to become known as the Irish Republican Brotherhood (I.R.B). (Full article...)


Thomas F. Kilroy (23 September 1934 – 7 December 2023) was an Irish playwright and novelist. (Full article...)

William Ulick O'Connor Cuffe, 4th Earl of Desart (10 July 1845 – 15 September 1898). He succeeded to the title of 6th Baron Desart, 4th Viscount Desart and 4th Earl of Desart on 1 April 1865 (Full article...)

Selected sport articles

Mason, c. 1870

James Mason (19 November 1849 – 12 January 1905) was a British-American chess player, journalist and writer who became one of the world's best half-dozen players in the 1880s. Mason was ranked the number 1 player in the world by Chessmetrics during 11 separate months between August 1877 and June 1878. (Full article...)

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