KILKENNY, a city and diocese of Ossory, locally
in the county of KILKENNY, of which it is the chief town,
and in the province of LEINSTER, 24 miles (N. E. by N.)
from Clonmel, and 57½ (S. W.) from Dublin, on the
river Nore and the mail coach road to Cork; containing
23,741 inhabitants. This place is supposed by
some writers to have derived its name from Coil or
Kyle-Ken-Ni, "the wooded head, or hill, near the river;"
and by others, with more probability, from the dedication
of its church to St. Canice, on the removal of the
ancient see of Ossory from Aghavoe to this place, about
the year 1052, which had been originally founded at
Saiger, now Seir-Keran, about 402. Of the earlier history
of the town little is recorded previously to 1173,
when Donald O'Brien, King of Thomond, assembled his
forces to dispossess the English invaders under Strongbow,
who had established themselves and erected a
fortress here soon after their landing in Ireland. On
this occasion Strongbow retreated to Waterford, and
abandoned the castle to the enemy, by whom, together
with the town, it was demolished, and the surrounding
country laid waste. In 1192, the English appear to
have settled themselves firmly at this place; and in
1195, William Le Mareschal, who had succeeded to
Strongbow's possessions, rebuilt the castle on a larger
scale and restored the town, which became one of the
principal residences of his successors and the head of
the palatinate of Kilkenny. About this time arose that
portion of the present town which is more especially
called Kilkenny, and which was more immediately connected
with the castle, in contradistinction to the original
town on the opposite bank of a small river flowing
into the Nore, called Irishtown. Each had its separate
and independent municipal government, the former
under the lords of the castle, and the latter under the
bishops of Ossory, who ceded a portion of it to William
Le Mareschal, by whom the burgesses of Kilkenny
were incorporated and endowed with many privileges,
among which was exemption from toll in all his territories
of Leinster. Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester
and Hereford, marrying a daughter of William Le
Mareschal, obtained as her dower the county of Kilkenny,
which subsequently passed by marriage again to
Hugh, grandfather of Thomas Le Spencer, from whom
it was purchased by James Butler, third Earl of Ormonde.
A great council of the barons of the English
pale was held here in 1294; and in 1309 a parliament
assembled at this place, in which severe laws were
enacted against such of the English settlers as should
adopt the Irish customs; and anathemas against all
who should infringe them were denounced in the
cathedral by the Archbishop of Cashel and other prelates
who assisted on that occasion. In 1317, Lord
Roger Mortimer, justiciary of Ireland, and the English
nobles, held a council here to deliberate on the most
effectual means of opposing the ravages of Edward
Bruce; and an army of 30,000 men was assembled,
and great numbers of families sought refuge in the town
under the general alarm. Parliaments were held here
in 1327 and 1330, when an army assembled here to
drive Brien O'Brien from Urkuffs, near Cashel; in 1331
a parliament was adjourned to this place from Dublin,
and in 1341 a grand meeting of the principal nobility
took place, assisted by the chief officers of the king's
cities, to petition for the better government of Ireland.
Parliaments were also held in 1347, 1356, and 1367, at
which last, held before Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the
celebrated statute of Kilkenny was enacted; and also
in 1370 and 1374, in which latter Sir William de
Windsor was sworn into the office of Lord-Lieutenant.
Letters patent were granted in 1375 to the burgesses,
and renewed in 1384, authorising them to appropriate
certain customs for building and repairing the walls;
and in 1399, Richard II., on his progress through the
south of Ireland, arrived from Waterford at this place,
where he was entertained for fourteen days by the Earl
of Ormonde. Robert Talbot, a kinsman of the earl's,
in 1400, encompassed the greater portion of the town
with walls; and in 1419 the townsmen received a grant
of tolls for murage. During the contest between the
houses of York and Lancaster, the town was taken and
plundered by the Earl of Desmond, who was an adherent
of the latter; and in 1499 the burgesses, headed
by their sovereign, marched out in aid of the Butlers
against Tirlagh O'Brien, but were defeated. The last
parliament held in the town was held in 1536, and was
adjourned to Cashel; but this place still continued to
be the occasional residence of the lords-lieutenant,
and the chief seat of their government, for which purpose
Hen. VIII. granted to the corporation the site and
precincts of the Black friars' monastery, on condition of
their furnishing certain accommodation free of expense
to the chief governor of Ireland, when in Kilkenny;
from which they were subsequently released on payment
of a fine of £70. Sir Peter Carew, in his progress
to resist the aggressions of the Butlers and Desmonds,
in 1568, took possession of the town, which
was soon after invested by Fitz-Maurice, brother of
Desmond; but the spirited conduct of the garrison
compelled him to retire.
In the parliamentary war of 1641 this place was
distinguished as the theatre of contention; it was seized
by Lord Mountgarret, and in the following year a
general synod of the Catholic clergy was held here, and
a meeting of deputies from the confederate Catholics
from all parts of the kingdom took place in the house
of Mr. R. Shee, in the present coal market. The lords,
prelates, and commons all sat in the same chamber;
and the clergy who were not qualified to sit as barons
assembled in convocation in another house; and a press
was erected in the city, at which were printed all the
decrees of the synod. On the arrival of Rinuncini, the
Pope's nuncio, the city and suburbs were placed under
an interdict, for accepting the peace which had been
concluded at this meeting; and in 1648 a plot was disKTL
covered for betraying the city and the supreme council
into the hands of the nuncio and the party of O'Nial.
Cromwell, relying on the. promises of an officer of the
garrison, advanced before the city though unprepared
to besiege it, in the hope of obtaining it by treachery;
but the plot was discovered and the agent executed.
Having, however, received large reinforcements under
Ireton, he again appeared before it on the 23d of
March, 1650, and commenced a regular siege; the
garrison, originally consisting of 200 horse and 1000
foot, but reduced by the plague to 300, made a resolute
defence under Sir Walter Butler, who had been appointed
governor by Lord Castlehaven, but was
at length compelled to surrender upon honourable
terms.
The city, which occupies an area of nearly a square
mile, is intersected from north to south by the river
Nore, dividing it into two very unequal portions, of
which the larger, containing the castle, is on its western
bank; and near the northern extremity, on the same
side of the river, is that portion of it called Irishtown,
containing the cathedral, and separated from the former
by the small river Breagh, which here falls into the
Nore. The streets are very irregular, but the city has
an air of venerable magnificence, from its castle, cathedral,
and the numerous and imposing remains of its
ancient religious edifices, and is seen to great advantage
from the high eastern bank of the river, and from the
rising ground on the road to Clonmel. The houses in
the principal streets are generally built of stone, and
many of them are spacious and handsome, especially in
that part of it properly called Kilkenny, in which the
chief modern improvements have taken place; the total
number of houses, in 1831, was 2800, since which time
the number has increased. There are two elegant
stone bridges over the Nore, erected after designs by
Mr. G. Smith, to replace two which were destroyed in
1763 by a great flood; St. John's bridge consists of
three arches, and Green's bridge connects Irishtown
with the opposite bank. The environs are in many
parts extremely pleasing, and there is a fine promenade
called the Mall, extending nearly a mile along the bank
of a canal commenced many years since, but never completed,
and also along the banks of the Nore and the
base of the castle, beautifully planted with ornamental
trees of fine growth. At a short distance from the city
are infantry barracks for 15 officers and 558 non-commissioned
officers and privates, a neat range of buildings
of modern erection; there is also a temporary barrack
for one squadron of horse. The library, established in
1811 by a proprietary, and supported by subscription,
contains more than 4000 volumes, and has a newsroom
attached to it; it is open to strangers introduced
by a subscriber. The Mechanics' Friend Society,
established in 1835, for diffusing information among
the working classes, and supported by subscription,
has a library of 700 volumes, and a room in which
lectures on the arts and sciences are gratuitously delivered.
The Horticultural Society holds two meetings
in the year; and races are held in September on a
course at a short distance from the town, and are
generally well attended. The Kilkenny Hunt has been
long established, and is considered as the most celebrated
in Ireland. The savings' bank, established in
1816, under the patronage of the Earl of Ormonde,
had, in 1835, deposits to the amount of £23,784, and
801 depositors.
In the 16th century, Piers, Earl of Ormonde, with
a view to benefit the town by the introduction of
manufactures, brought over several artificers from
Flanders and the neighbouring provinces, whom he
employed in working tapestry, diapers, and carpets,
but the manufacture did not extend beyond the supply
of the castle and was soon discontinued. The manufacture
of coarse frieze was extensively carried on
here in the reign of Chas. II., but was withdrawn to
Carrick-on-Suir, and succeeded by the wool-combing
and the worsted trade, which, about the middle of the
last century, were superseded by the manufacture of
blankets, which became the principal trade both of the
city and the county. In 1821, from 3000 to 4000 persons
were employed in this manufacture; but on the
expiration of the protecting duties, the trade became
greatly depressed, and at present not more than 600
persons are employed in it, and even these at greatly
reduced prices; the blankets made here are still in
great repute, and are purchased for the supply of the
army. There is also a small manufacture of coarse
woollen cloth, but the principal trade is in corn, and in
the immediate neighbourhood are several very extensive
flour-mills, three large distilleries, four breweries, two
tanneries, some extensive yards for curing bacon, some
salt-works, and several considerable starch-manufactories.
Coarse linens are woven by the country people
for domestic wear, and there is a large bleach-green.
About half a mile from the city are quarries of the wellknown
Kilkenny marble, which has a black ground
with white veins interspersed with shells and marine
exuviae, and is susceptible of a very high polish. It is
mostly worked into mantel-pieces of great beauty, and
is cut and polished in a mill moved by water power,
erected on the bank of the river, about two miles from
the town, in the parish of Blackrath; great quantities
of the marble are exported. Limestone is also quarried
in various parts of the county of the city. The
amount of excise duties paid in the district of Kilkenny,
for the year 1835, was £70,665. 16. 11½. The
markets are on Wednesday and Saturday, and are
amply supplied with corn and provisions of every kind.
Two great fairs are held on March 28th and Corpus
Christi day; they are great cattle and wool fairs, which
regulate the prices of all the others, and are attended
by graziers from all parts of Ireland: there are also
several other fairs, established by recent patents. An
area in the lower part of the spacious old building
called the Tholsel is appropriated as a market-house.
The charter granted to the burgesses by William Le
Mareschal was confirmed, with all its privileges, by
Edw. III., in the 1st year of his reign; and in the
51st of the same reign the sovereign, portreeve, and
commonalty of Kilkenny were by a roll enjoined not to
interfere with the freedom of the market of Irishtown,
the inhabitants of which obtained from Edw. IV. a
confirmation of the grant of their market, and the privilege
of choosing a portreeve annually, independently of
Kilkenny. Edw. VI. confirmed all the ancient privileges
of the burgesses of Kilkenny, as enjoyed by them during
the reign of Hen. VIII., and granted them the dissolved
priory of St. John, with all its possessions, at a fee-farm
rent of £16. 6. 4. Elizabeth, in 1574, confirmed the
several rights of both boroughs, but, to obviate the disputes
that arose from having two corporations in the
same town, constituted them one body corporate under
the designation of "The Sovereign, Burgesses, and
Commonalty of the Town of Kilkenny." Jas. I., in
1608, made the towns of Kilkenny and Irishtown, with
the parishes of St. Mary, St. John, St. Canice, and St.
Patrick, a free borough, and in the following year granted
additional privileges, erected the borough into a free
city, under the designation of the mayor and citizens
of the city of Kilkenny, and constituted the city and its
liberties a distinct county, to be called the county of the
city of Kilkenny. Chas. I., in 1639, granted to the
mayor and citizens the monasteries of the Black and
Grey friars, with several rectories and other possessions;
and Jas. II. gave the citizens a new charter, which
never came into operation, the city being governed by
the charter of Jas. I. Under this charter the corporation
consists of a mayor, two sheriffs, 18 aldermen, 36
common-councilmen, and an indefinite number of freemen,
assisted by a recorder, treasurer, two coroners, a
town-clerk, four serjeants-at-mace, and other officers.
The mayor, who is also custos rotulorum, escheator,
clerk of the market, and master of the assay, is chosen
annually from the aldermen by the aldermen and councilmen,
on the next Monday after the 24th of June,
and has power to appoint a deputy, during illness or
necessary absence, chosen from such of the aldermen
as have served the office of mayor. The sheriffs are
elected annually from the common-councilmen by the
aldermen and councilmen, on the same day as the
mayor. The aldermen are chosen for life from the common-
councilmen by the mayor and aldermen; and the
common-councilmen are chosen from the freemen by
the aldermen and councilmen, who also appoint the
recorder, and the treasurer and town-clerk are appointed
by the corporation. There is also a corporation
of the staple. The freedom of the city is obtained
by birth, marriage, servitude, and favour of the corporation.
The burgesses of Irishtown still continue
to elect their portreeve annually under the direction of
the Bishop of Ossory; he is clerk of the market, and
presides in his court held weekly for the recovery of
debts under 40s., but has no magisterial jurisdiction.
Each borough returned two members to the Irish parliament;
Kilkenny first in 1374, and Irishtown at a
much earlier period; both continued to do so till the
Union, when Irishtown was disfranchised, and the
£15,000 awarded in compensation was paid to the
Board of First Fruits, to be applied to the uses of that
fund. Since that period the city has sent only one
member to the Imperial parliament. The right of election,
previously in the freemen of the city and 40s.
freeholders of the county of the city, was, by the act of
the 2nd of Wm. IV., cap. 88, vested in the resident
freemen and £10 householders, and in £20 and £10
leaseholders for the respective terms of 14 and 20 years;
the 40s. freeholders retain the privilege only for life.
The number of registered voters at the close of 1836
was 808. No alteration has taken place in the electoral
boundary of the borough, which is co-extensive with the
county of the city: the sheriffs are the returning officers.
The mayor, recorder, and all the aldermen who have
served the office of mayor, are justices of the peace, and
under their charter hold quarterly courts of session, with
criminal jurisdiction within the county of the city;
and a court of record, called the Tholsel, for the determination
of actions to any amount exceeding £20, every
Tuesday and Friday. Assizes for the county of the city,
and for the county at large, are held here twice in the
year; and quarter sessions for the county of Kilkenny
are held in rotation with the towns of Castlecomer, Thomastown,
and Urlingford. A peace preservation force
is stationed in the city, the expense of maintaining
which, for 1835, amounted to £712. 15. 10. The
court-house, called Grace's Old Castle, contains courts
both for the city and for the county at large, and is a
spacious and handsome modern building, occupying
part of the site of the ancient castle of the family of
Grace, of whom William Grace, or Le Gras, its first
founder, was seneschal of Leinster and governor of
Kilkenny. The city gaol is a badly constructed edifice,
containing seven cells, but not adapted to the classification
of prisoners. The county gaol is a spacious modern
building of stone, a little to the west of the city: it
contains 48 cells, is well arranged for classification, and
has a tread-mill and a well-conducted school.
The SEE of OSSORY, which,
like that of Meath, takes its
name from a district, was
originally established at Saiger,
now Seir-Kieran, in the
territory of Ely O'Carrol,
about the year 402, by St.
Kieran, after his return from
Rome, where he had remained
20 years in the study
of the Christian faith, and
had been consecrated a
bishop. He was accompanied
on his return by five other bishops, who also
founded sees in other parts of Ireland, and after presiding
over this see for many years is supposed to have
died in Cornwall, as stated by the English martyrologists.
Of his successors, who were called Episcopi Saigerenses,
but very imperfect accounts are preserved.
Carthag, his disciple and immediate successor, died
about the year 540, from which period till the removal
of the see from Saiger to Aghavoe, about the year 1052,
there appears to have been, with some few intervals, a
regular succession of prelates. The monastery of Aghavoe
was founded by St. Canice, of which he was the
first abbot, and in which he died about the year 600;
and after the removal of the see from Saiger, there is
little mention of the bishops of Aghavoe, in whose succession
there is a chasm of 73 years till the time of
Donald O'Fogarty, who was consecrated in 1152, and
assisted at the synod of Kells held under Cardinal
Paparo, as vicar-general and bishop of Ossory. Felix
O'Dullany, who succeeded him in 1178, removed the see
from Aghavoe to the city of Kilkenny, as a place of
greater security, where he laid the foundation of the
cathedral church of St. Canice, which was continued at
a great expense by Hugh Mapelton, and completed by
Geoffrey St. Leger, about the year 1270. Bishop St.
Leger gave to the vicars choral his manse and lodgings,
formerly the episcopal palace, previously to the erection
of the palaces of Aghor and Dorogh; and William
Fitz-John, who succeeded in 1302, appropriated the
church of Claragh to the abbey of St. John the EvangeKIL
list, with a reservation of 20s. to the vicars choral of
St. Canice. Richard Ledred, who was consecrated in
1318, beautified the cathedral and rebuilt and glazed all
the windows, of which the great east window contained
some exquisite specimens of scripture history in stained
glass, for which Rinuncini, the pope's nuncio, in 1645,
offered £700; he also built the episcopal palace, near
the cathedral. Bishop Hacket, who succeeded in 1460,
built the arch of the tower of the cathedral of hewn
stone, and appropriated the parish church of Ballybur
to the vicars choral; and Oliver Cantwell, who succeeded
in 1488, repaired the episcopal palaces, rebuilt
the bridge of Kilkenny (which had been destroyed by a
flood), and gave the church of St. Mael to the vicars
choral of St. Canice. Milo Baron, who was consecrated
in 1527, repaired the episcopal palace and gave a silver
staff to the cathedral; and Nicholas Walsh, his successor,
was the first who introduced types of the Irish
character, in which he had prayer-books and a catechism
printed in the Irish language. Jonas Wheeler, consecrated
in 1613, recovered the lands of Tasscoffin,
Grangecoolpobble, Freinston, and Sheskin Wood, which
Bishop Thonory had alienated, and obtained a grant of
the manor of Breghmoe, in King's county, which was
confirmed to the see in 1619 by Jas. I. Griffith Williams,
who succeeded to the prelacy in 1641, laid out £1400
in repairing the cathedral, and. £300 in beautifying the
chancel; and gave to the see many of his lands in
Caernarvonshire and other parts of, Wales. Bishop
Parry, in 1672, enriched the see by the recovery of
alienated lands; and Thomas Otway, who succeeded in
1679, founded the library of the cathedral in the churchyard,
and gave all his books for the use of the clergy of
the diocese; he also embellished the cathedral and gave
to it a service of communion plate weighing 363 ounces.
The see of Ossory continued to be a separate diocese till
1835, when, on the death of the late Dr. Elrington,
Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, both those dioceses were,
under the provisions of the Church Temporalities' Act
of the 3rd and 4th of Wm. IV., annexed to it, and their
temporalities vested in the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.
The diocese, which is one of the five that constitute the
ecclesiastical province of Dublin, comprehends the
county of the city of Kilkenny, the whole of the barony
of Ossory, in Queen's county, the parish of Seir-Kyran,
in King's county, and the greater part of the county of
Kilkenny. It extends 60 miles in length, and 18 in
breadth, and comprises an estimated superficies of 346,000
acres, of which 60,000 are in Queen's county, 4100 in
King's county, and 281,000 in the county and county
of the city of Kilkenny. The lands belonging to the see
comprise 21,730 statute acres of profitable land; and
the gross annual revenue, on an average of three years
ending Dec. 31st, 1831, was returned at £3859. The
chapter, consists of a dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer,
archdeacon, and the seven prebendaries of Blackrath,
Aghoure, Mayne, Killamery, Tasscoffin, Kilmanagh,
and Cloneamery. The vicars choral, three in number, are
a corporate body, endowed with various lands and tithes
in the city and county of Kilkenny; the former comprising
nearly 269 acres, and, together with the tithes,
producing a rental of £200. 1. 10. The economy fund
amounts to £444. 1.1¾., arising from houses and premises
in the city, and from tithes in the county. The
consistorial court consists of a vicar-general, surrogate,
three proctors and two registrars, who are keepers of
the records of the see, which are all modern documents,
the earliest being wills dated 1634. The total number
of parishes in the diocese is 146, comprised in 62 benefices,
of which 27 are unions of two or more parishes,
and 35 single parishes; of these 11 are in the gift
of the crown, 16 inlay and corporation patronage, 5 in
joint or alternate presentation, and the remainder in the
patronage of the bishop and incumbents. The total
number of churches is 52, and there are also six other
places where divine service is performed; and the number
of glebe-houses is 36. The cathedral church, dedicated
to St. Canice, and situated on a gentle eminence
at the western extremity of the city, is a spacious and
venerable cruciform structure, in the early English style
of architecture, with a low massy central tower supported
on clustered columns of black marble, and lofty
pointed arches, affording entrances from the nave into
the choir and transepts. The exterior walls, with the
exception only of the gables, are embattled, and at the
west end the pinnacles form two small spires. The
whole length of the building is 226 feet, and the breadth
along the transepts 123 feet. The interior is lofty and
of chaste and elegant design; the nave is separated from
the aisles by an elegant range of five clustered columns
of black marble on each side, with lofty and gracefully
moulded arches, and lighted by a large west window of
elegant design, and a range of five clerestory windows;
the aisles are lighted by four windows on each side;
the choir, of similar character, has a beautifully groined
ceiling, embellished with delicate tracery and numerous
modillions, and a central group of cherubs, festoons, and
foliage of exquisite richness. At the end of the south
transept, on the eastern side, is the consistory court,
built by Bishop Pococke, and to the north of it is the
chapter-house. On the eastern side of the north transept
is a door leading through a dark passage into the
chapel of St. Mary, where the parochial vicar of St.
Canice formerly officiated; and adjacent to it, on the
same side, is the present parish church, containing the
tomb of Bishop Gafney, who died in 1576. In various
parts of the cathedral are several ancient monuments, of
which the most remarkable is that of Bishop David,
near the consistorial court, now much defaced; eight of
the bishops of Ossory and several of the noble proprietors
of the castle are interred here; and in the transept
is a stone seat, called the Chair of St. Kieran. Within
a short distance from the south transept are the remains
of an ancient round tower, 108 feet high and 47 feet in
circumference at the base, and crowned at its summit
with a low battlement. The cemetery is finely planted, and
is approached from the town by a flight of marble steps.
Near the east end of the cathedral is the episcopal
palace, a commodious and handsome residence; and on
the south-eastern side is the deanery, a good building.
At the north-western end of the churchyard is the diocesan
library, founded in 1692 by Bishop Otway, who left
£5 per annum to the librarian, and £5 for coal; it
was enlarged in 1756, by Bishop Maurice, who increased
the stipend of the librarian by an annuity of £20, and
contributed largely to the collection, which now contains
3000 volumes. In the R. C. divisions, this diocese, as
originally constituted, is a separate bishoprick, being
one of the three suffragan to the archiepiscopal see of
Dublin: it comprises 32 parochial benefices or unions,
containing 94 chapels served by 88 clergymen, of whom
32, including the bishop, are parish priests, and 56
coadjutors or curates. The parochial benefices of the
bishop are the unions of St. Mary and St. John, Kilkenny,
in the former of which is the R. C. cathedral
and the bishop's residence. The diocese is divided into
three districts, called the northern division, or Conference
of Ballyragget; the middle division, or Conference
of Kilkenny; and the southern division, or Conference
of Ballyhale, where chapters of the clergy are held.
The county of the city comprehends the parishes of
St. Mary, St. Patrick, St. John, and St. Canice, and
comprises 16,400 statute acres: the total amount of
Grand Jury assessments for 1836 was £2816. The parish
of St. Mary is entirely within the city: the living is a
perpetual curacy, in the patronage of the Bishop. The
church, for the erection of which the late Board of First
Fruits, in 1819, granted a loan of £1200, is an elegant
cruciform structure, with a tower and spire, situated in
the High-street. The glebe-house, for which the same
Board gave £400 and lent £350, is a good residence;
and there is a small glebe near the church. The parish
of St. Patrick is about one mile and a half in length,
and nearly the same in breadth: the living is a rectory
and vicarage, united to the rectory of Aghaboe, and the
rectory and vicarage of Urlingford, together constituting
the corps of the deanery of Ossory, in the patronage of
the Crown; the tithes amount to £500, and of the
union to £1176. 3. 1. The parish of St. John comprises
5318 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act, and valued at £7016 per annum. Fairs, for which
patents have recently been obtained, are held here on
Feb. 15th, May 6th, Sept. 23d, and Nov. 10th. The
living is a vicarage, united by act of council, in the
reign of Hen. VIII., to the vicarage of Clara, and in the
patronage of the Bishop; the rectory is impropriate
in the corporation of Kilkenny. The tithes amount to
£576. 2., of which £373. 0. 6. is payable to the corporation,
and £203. 1. 6. to the vicar; the tithes of the
whole union, payable to the incumbent, amount to
£293. 1. 6. The church is part of the ancient monastery
of St. John the Evangelist, restored agreeably to
the character of the ancient building, which was of
elegant design and elaborate execution; it contains the
mutilated relics of ancient sepulchral monuments to the
Butler, Grace, and. Purcel families. There is no glebehouse;
the glebe is situated in the parish of Clara, and
comprises 15 acres. The parish of St. Canice, comprises
6159 statute acres, as applotted under the tithe
act: the living is a rectory and a vicarage, united by
act of council from time immemorial to the rectories
and vicarages of Ballybur and St. Martin, together
forming the union of St. Canice, belonging to the vicars
choral, who receive the tithes of the two first, amounting
to £450; those of St. Martin are payable to the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners. In the R. C. divisions
the parish of St. Mary is the head of a union or district,
comprising also a small portion of St. John's; the
parish of St. Patrick is the head of a union, comprising
also the parishes of Castleinch and Outrath,
and part of St. Canice; the parish of St. John is the head
of a union, comprising also Rathcoole, Kilderry, and
Kilmadrum; and the parish of St. Canice is the head
of a union, comprising also the parish of St. Maul, and
part of Ballybur. There are four chapels, one in each
parish: that of St. Canice is a handsome modern
edifice, in the later English style; the others are all
plain buildings. Adjoining St. Mary's, which is the
largest, is the residence of the R. C. bishop, and also
the Presentation Convent, with a chapel attached to it:
there is also a Capuchin friary, and a Dominican abbey,
with chapels attached.
The grammar-school, called the college of Kilkenny,
was originally founded by Piers Butler, Earl of Ormonde,
and a new charter was granted to it by the
Duke of Ormonde, in 16843 but it fell into disuse during
the war of the Revolution, and Jas. II. founded on its
site a royal college, which continued only for a short
time, when the original establishment was restored.
The house, having gone to decay, was rebuilt in 1782,
by parliamentary grants, amounting to £5064, and is
adapted to the accommodation of 80 boarders. Provision
is made for the education of scholars on the
foundation, to be afterwards admitted into Trinity College,
Dublin; and the children of freemen are entitled
to instruction at half the usual terms. It was
endowed by the Duke of Ormonde with a house for the
master in John-street, with eight acres of land attached
to it, and with £140 per annum charged on the
Ormonde estate, for the maintenance of a master and
ushers, and the repair of the house 3 the salary of the
master of the diocesan school, which has been discontinued,
is also paid to the master of this school, who is
appointed by the Provost and Fellows of Trinity College,
and is to teach the classics, poetry, and oratory; the
Bishop of Ossory, Leighlin, and Ferns, and the Provost
of Trinity College are visiters. Among many eminent
men, who have been educated in this establishment,
were Stanihurst, the historian; Swift; Congreve;
Farquhar; Harris, the continuator of Ware; Provost
Baldwin; Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne; and several
other distinguished literary characters. At Birchfield,
near the city, is a R. C. seminary for the education of
students intended for the priesthood. Bishop Pococke
bequeathed the whole of his property to the Incorporated
Society of Dublin for promoting English Protestant
schools, for the foundation of a school for R. C. children
from 12 to 16 years of age, to be instructed in the principles
of the Protestant religion, and bred to the linenweaving
trade, for which purpose he appropriated his
manufacturing house at Lintown, which is amply endowed:
there are, at present, about 24 boys in the
school, and as many looms in the factory; and the
curate of the parish, with a salary of £10, is catechist
to the school, which now occupies the building of the
old charter-school. A parochial school for the city at
large is supported by a bequest of £100 per annum
from the late Mr. Evans, an annual donation from the
bishop and dean, and by subscription; and there are
also an infants' school and others. The ladies of the
Presentation Convent gratuitously instruct more than
300 female children. The total number of children
taught in the public schools exceeds 1100; and there
are various private schools, in which are more than
1500 children. There is also an orphan-house for girls,
under the patronage of the ladies of the Presentation
Convent, for the establishment of which a large sum was
given by Mr. Murphy, of this city.
Adjoining the library in St. Canice's churchyard is
an almshouse for eight poor women, founded by Bishop
Q
Williams, who endowed it with lands at Fermoy, which
were sold by his executors; but the inmates receive
small annuities from different estates of the Waring
family. In the coal market was an hospital, founded by
Thomas, tenth Earl of Ormonde, who died in 1614; he
endowed it with the impropriate tithes of Drominberran
and Bewley, to which were added those of Inch and
Drumboth by the great Duke of Ormonde, who obtained
from Chas. II. a charter incorporating the master, brethren,
and sisters. The house having gone to decay, a
smaller one was built in High-street by the present family,
consisting of two stories, with four rooms on each floor,
inhabited by eight poor widows, who receive small payments;
it is called the Ormonde poor-house. In Rose-
Inn-street is an hospital founded in 1581, by Sir R. Shee,
Knt., who endowed it with the tithes of Butler's-woods
and Kilmocahill, in the counties of Kilkenny and Carlow,
for the support of twelve poor men and women; but the
tithes have long been detained in lay hands, and Gen.
St. Ruth bequeathed some property, vested in the French
funds; but the inmates, who are now all females, receive
only small gratuities, from the family of Shee, by
whom they are nominated, and alms collected at the
chapel of St. Mary. In a pleasant situation is a range
of almshouses, called St. James' Asylum, founded and
endowed, in 1803, by James Switzer, Esq., for twenty
poor widows, twelve Protestant, and eight R. C., each
of whom, in addition to residence, receives £20 per
annum; in the area in front of the building is a statue
of the founder, who was a native of the city. The widow
of Edw. Cramer bequeathed £7.10. per annum (turnpike
debentures) for supplying the poor of St. Mary's
parish with bread, to be distributed at the church by the
curate, who also has the distribution of another bequest
to the poor of that parish by Mr. Nicholai. Mr. Lewis
Chapelier, of John-street, bequeathed, in trust, the interest
of £500 to be given every second year, in a sum of
£50 late currency, as a marriage portion to the daughter
of a reputable tradesman, who should marry a tradesman
of the town, both being Protestants. Sir William
Fownes bequeathed the rents of two tenements in Patrickstreet
to charitable purposes; and £8 is accordingly given
yearly to the county infirmary, and the rest in charitable
pensions. A large house and garden in Patrick-street,
were bequeathed by Gen. St. Ruth, in trust, to pay £12
per annum to the poor; and a bequest for the same purpose
by Mr. John Cramer was also made about the
same time, but neither has been carried into effect.
The late Rev. William Lanigan, P. P. of St. Patrick's,
bequeathed £1600, three per cent. consols., for the support
of six poor widows, who receive the dividends, and
a house is now being built for their reception. The
Charitable Society, formed in 1740, affords relief to sick
tradesmen or their widows; and the Benevolent Society
was established in 1785, for the relief of bedridden poor.
A charitable loan was instituted by act of parliament in
1792, for lending small sums to poor tradesmen, free of
interest; and the Ormonde charitable loan fund, for the
same purpose, was established by the Ormonde family in
1834, for granting loans, repayable by small instalments.
The county infirmary was opened in 1767: it contains
two male and two female wards, in each of which
are 10 beds; external patients receive advice and medicine
two days in every week; the average annual
income is about £660, and the number of in-patients
about 500, and of out-patients about 1059. The fever
hospital was built at an expense of £1100, a loan from
Government, and subsequently repaid by Grand Jury
assessments; and the dispensary, founded in 1819, is
supported by presentments and subscription, and a
bequest of £100 per annum by the late Mr. Evans,
which, in common with other charitable bequests by
that gentleman, has been for some time suspended,
from the non-payment of interest on certain debts
chargeable on estates, for the sale of which proceedings
have been for some years pending in the court of Chancery:
patients unable to attend are visited at their own
houses. There is also a house of industry, with an
hospital for lunatics attached to it, which is now appropriated
as an auxiliary to the county gaol.
The castle, originally built by Strongbow, and rebuilt
by William Le Mareschal, occupies a commanding
situation on an eminence overlooking the river Nore:
it was enclosed with a wall 40 feet high, and defended
by bastions, curtains, and towers of great strength, with
a keep on the summit; and contained, in addition to
accommodation for a large garrison, a splendid suite of
apartments, the baronial residence of the Earls of
Ormonde. It was for the greater part rebuilt by the
second Duke of Ormonde, but not completed, and occupies
at present two sides of a quadrangle, containing
three of the round towers of the ancient castle: several
of the rooms are hung with tapestry from the manufacture
introduced by the Ormonde family, and it contains
a fine collection of paintings, among which are
numerous portraits of the time of Chas. II. It is now
being partly rebuilt on a splendid scale by the present
Marquess, after a design by Mr. Robertson, of Kilkenny,
and when completed will occupy three sides of a quadrangle,
preserving the ancient towers, with the character
of which the additional buildings will carefully harmonise.
It commands extensive and interesting views,
and will be one of the most magnificent baronial residences
in the country. The other seats in the immediate
vicinity of the city are Kilcreen, formerly the seat of Sir
W. de Montmorency, Bart., and now the residence of
Clayton Bayly, Esq.; Castle Blunden (formerly Clonmoran),
of Sir J. Blunden, Bart., Bonnetstown, of P.
Collis, Esq.; Rose Hill, of W. Robertson, Esq.; Orchardton,
of the Dowager Countess of Carrick; Danville, of
Christopher James, Esq.; Kilfeara, of H. Ryan, Esq.;
The Cottage, of J. Green, Esq.; Sion, of M. Warren,
Esq.; Hebron, of Major Jones; River View, of R. Collis,
Esq.; and Johnswell, of A. P. Thomas, Esq.
The priory, or hospital, of St. John the Evangelist,
founded by William Le Mareschal in 1220, notwithstanding
its long alienation from ecclesiastical uses, was,
in 1641, taken possession of by a fraternity of Jesuits,
who commenced its restoration; a great part of it was
afterwards demolished, and the east window of its
church, enriched with delicate tracery, and part of the
south side of the choir formed a picturesque ruin till
the year 1817, when it was restored, and became the
parish church of St. John. The annals of this house,
called the Codex Kilkenniensis, were in high reputation,
and formed part of the Chandos collection. The Dominican
abbey, founded in Irishtown by William Le
Mareschal the younger, in 1225, was dedicated to the
Holy Trinity; and chapters of the order were held in
it in 1281, 1302,.1306, and 1316; part of it was, subKIL
sequently to the Reformation, made a shire-house, and
in 1640 the whole was repaired. The remains of the
abbey church are extensive and interesting; it was
cruciform, with a central tower, which is still in good
preservation, crowned with a graduated battlement with
angular turrets; the windows and arches are of elegant
design, and the nave and south transept are beautiful
specimens of rich detail in the decorated English style;
part has been lately restored for a R. C. chapel. Among
the eminent persons interred in this church were the
founder and his brother. The Franciscan abbey was
founded previously to the year 1230, and a provincial
chapter was held in it in 126; it extended from the
city walls to the river, and of its extensive remains, part
has been converted into a brewery. The body of the
church is nearly entire, though without a roof, and is
now used as a tennis-court; at the west end are the
relics of a lofty window of seven lights, and from the
centre of the building rises a tower of light and elegant
proportions, resting on finely groined arches, and apparently
of the date of the 14th century. Within the
precincts is a well of pure water, formerly held in great
veneration, and still in high repute. John Clyn, an
annalist of some celebrity, was a friar of this house.
All these houses after the Reformation were granted to
the corporation. Part of a house in the coal-market,
now divided into five or six tenements, is said to have
been the chamber in which the parliaments held at
Kilkenny assembled; it consisted of a hall, 49 feet long
and 47 feet wide, under which was a dungeon, 20 feet
square; the windows are arched, narrow, and lofty, and
are defended with iron bars. Among the eminent natives
of this place were several bishops of various sees,
of whom William Daniel, D. D., a man of great learning,
translated the book of Common Prayer from the
English, and the New Testament from the Greek, into
the Irish language, and was made Archbishop of Tuam
in 1609. John Banim, author of the O'Hara Tales, and
other works of imagination, is also a native of this
place. Kilkenny gives the title of Earl to the family
of Butler.