Europe · Ireland · Leinster
Kilkenny Castle
The story
History of Kilkenny Castle
A long crenellated Norman keep on the River Nore, home to the Butler family for six centuries and now a Kilkenny landmark.
Ireland · Leinster · Norman
- Built
- from 1195
- Era
- Medieval
- Style
- Norman
- Country
- Ireland
- Region
- Leinster
- UNESCO
- —
- Coordinates
- 52.650, -7.249
In depth
The fuller history
Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, commonly known as Strongbow constructed the first castle, probably a wooden structure, in the 12th century. The Anglo-Normans had established a castle in 1173, possibly on the site of an earlier residence of the Mac Giolla Phádraig kings of Osraighe. Kilkenny formed part of the lordship of Leinster, which was granted to Strongbow. Strongbow's daughter and heiress, Isabel married William Marshall in 1189. Marshall owned large estates in Ireland, England, Wales and France and managed them effectively.
The family disposed of the bulk of their tenanted estates in Tipperary and Kilkenny, 21,000 acres (85 km2) in the early 1900s. Although the nominal value of the income from the Ormonde Settled Estates in Ireland was approximately £44,000 in the 1880s and 1890s, regular rental arrears caused by the ongoing agricultural depression rendered the actual income as closer to £22,000 annually during the later decades of the nineteenth century; records survive of Lady Ormonde startling a guest seated next to her at Castle Ball by commenting that "we are very poor." The Ormonde landed Estates, which had spanned some…
The rest of the 20th century saw a large amount of restoration and maintenance take place, as well as the castle being opened to visitors.
Key dates
- 800The Ormonde landed Estates, which had spanned some 27,800 acres in the counties of Tipperary and Kilkenny in the 1880s, were sold in 1903 for £240,000 under the Wyndham Land Act.
- 1192In 1192, he appointed Geoffrey FitzRobert as seneschal of Leinster and so began a major phase of development in Kilkenny, including the development of Kilkenny Castle.
- 1385They originally settled in Gowran where James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond built Gowran Castle in 1385.
- 1887Lord Arthur had married a wealthy American heiress, Ellen Stager, in 1887 and had acquired a country estate in Kent, Gennings Park, as well as a lease of a townhouse in London at No.
- 1922In 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Republicans were besieged in the Castle by Irish Free State forces.
- 2019Excavations in 2019 by Cóilín Ó Drisceoil uncovered the foundations of the great gatehouse, built by William Marshal in the early 1200s.
Historical summary drawn from Wikipedia. Read the full article.
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