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In Kilkenny, Ireland, Walk a Mile Back to the Middle Ages

By Linda Gasparello

Just a mile-long walk in Kilkenny will take you back in time to Ireland in the Middle Ages. The  city’s “Medieval Mile” has some magnificent sites, including the 13th-century, stone St. Canice’s cathedral.

“St. Canice’s has one of two round towers in Ireland that you can climb: The tower was built before the medieval period, in the 9th century. A monk may have a little chat with you as get on your way to the roof,” Colette Byrne, CEO of the Kilkenny County Council, said at the Association of European Journalists’ Congress, held in Kilkenny on Nov. 4-6.

Kilkenny’s brewing history began with monks, who settled at St. Francis Abbey in the 13th century. “The monks drank beer instead of water because the water quality was poor,” Byrne said, adding, “Good excuse to drink beer, I’d say.”

On the city’s High Street, which is part of the “Medieval Mile,” stands Ireland’s oldest operating brewery: Smithwick’s. It was founded on the St. Francis Abbey site by John Smithwick in 1710. Byrne said the beer is now produced by Guinness in Dublin and the Kilkenny County Council owns the old brewery, which it “reinvented” as “The Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny” visitor attraction and center.

Byrne said the city is reinventing many of its landmark buildings. “We’re turning the 19th-century Evan’s Home, a former poorhouse, into a museum. It will house the Butler Gallery in two years,” she said. The gallery has more than 400 works, showing the evolution of 20th-century art in Ireland.

The arts are everywhere in the city, from murals on buildings to music in pubs to “eclectic festivals,” including the Kilkenomics Festival in November, “the world’s first festival of economics and comedy,” Byrne said.

I shot these photographs during a “Medieval Mile” walk, guided charmingly by Frank Kavanagh. “He’s the best tour guide in town,” said a boy, standing on the High Street with a hurling stick in his hand. Kavanagh smiled, took the stick from the boy, and raised it in the air to Kilkenny.

 

AEJ members gather on the Parade, leading to Kilkenny Castle, for a walking tour of the “Medieval Mile.”
Hurling statue built on the canal walk in Kilkenny
Closer view of the hurling statue

Tour guide Frank Kavanagh holding a hurling stick
AEJ members stop near St. Mary’s Church
An alley near St. Mary’s Church

St. Mary’s Church roof and steeple
A mural near St. Mary’s Church
A wedding party on John’s Bridge

Kitty’s Cabin sweet shop on Rose Inn Street
Sweets in Kitty’s Cabin window
A blaa (a doughy, white bread roll and specialty of the area) shop on Rose Inn Street

A sign painted on a wall on Rose Inn Street
A bookstore on the High Street
A women’s boutique occupies the old Woolen Hall on the High Street

The Gift Horse on Rose Inn Street’s painted sign
The Gift Horse’s front window display
A ceramic sign for a natural foods store

Apples displayed in front window of Roots & Fruits on St. Kiernan Street
Busy barbershop on St. Kiernan Street
A house with simple lines on St. Kiernan Street

A Celtic door knocker
On Rose Inn Street, a wild Irish rose iron grill
Spikes on a former Bank of Ireland building on the Parade, near Kilkenny Castle

A sign in the alley leading to The Hole in the Wall tavern
The Hole in the Wall tavern entrance
The 16th-century Rothe House on the HIgh Street is a Kilkenny history museum

The 1761 Thosel, with its lighted tower, is behind these High Street shoppers.
The Kilkenny coat of arms on the Thosel
A man selling remembrance red poppies in the Thosel’s arcade.

The Court House on the High Street
The Court House frieze
The arched Butter Slip alley that connects the High Street to St. Kiernan Street, previously called Low Lane

Built in 1616, the Butter Slip once provided a cool, retail location for butter vendors’ stalls.
An iron lamp lights the Butter Slip.
A shopper walks carefully down the Butter Slip steps.

A young woman stands on St. Kiernan Street, asking for donations to Kilkenny women’s rugby
The Black Abbey is down the street
Busts in the balcony

The Playwright pub on St. Kiernan Street
Daniel W Bollards pub on St. Kiernan Street
Daniel W Bollards pub

The 13th-century Kyteler’s Inn on St. Kiernan Street
Medieval Irish ashtray
The 18th-century Smithwick’s Ale House on the High Street

Smithwick’s Irish red ale was brewed in Kilkenny from the 1700s to 2014.
The mural on a block of St. Kiernan Street.
A visitor asks a young woman for directions.

The mural was commissioned by the Keep Kilkenny Beautiful Committee.
Mural section
Mural section

Mural section
Mural section
Mural section

Mural section
Mural section
Mural section

Blue-faced woman in mural above the St. Kiernan Street-level one
The Black Abbey, with its five-panel Rosary Window, founded in 1225.
A statue of St. Dominic, admiring The Black Abbey from across the street.

The Black Abbey
The Black Abbey
The courtyard of The Black Abbey

The courtyard of The Black Abbey
One of The Black Abbey’s stained glass windows
Medieval stone coffins in the courtyard of The Black Abbey

One of the stone coffins
Reflections of trees and a hanging lamp on a wall of the 12th-century Kilkenny Castle
Tree along the Parade, leading to the entrance of Kilkenny Castle

Kilkenny Castle
Ducks taking an evening swim in the River Nore
Ducks drying off on steps leading to the River Nore.

Kilkenny Castle from the porch of the Rivercourt Hotel

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