30^th September, 2013 – castles, cathedrals and Cashel.

We had  a completely extravagant breakfast at the hotel, then headed into Kilkenny city centre – it is only a short walk, which is just as well as the roads in the centre are certainly more picturesque than practical.

The weather was grey today and it even rained a little bit at times. (In Ireland! Who’d have thought?)

Our first stop was the Irish Design Centre. This is a range of interesting shops selling beautiful locally-made and/or designed soaps, jewellery, knitted clothing etc. The buildings were previously the stables for Kilknenny Castle.

We wandered through to the Butler House, which once belonged to the family who owned the rights to Ireland’s wine trade for centuries. It is now a conference centre. The gardens are beautiful, with lots of fruit and nut trees.

We visited Kilkenny Castle – this is a spectacular place, with parts dating from the 12^th Century although it has been altered a great deal. It had been turned into an extravagant stately home in the 19^th Century but then due to rising costs fell into disrepair. Over the past few decades, the Irish Office of Public Works has been restoring it – they have displays about how they were able to do this as faithfully as possible. For example, the carpets in one section were completely ruined and they had no way of distinguishing the original pattern, and no descriptions or pictures to show what it was like. However, they did find a receipt in with various records, with the name of the original manufacturer. Turns out the manufacturer is still in business and had kept details of this highly prestigious commission all this time! Unfortunately there are no photos allowed in the castle.

We had a look at the tourist information centre – this being Kilkenny, even this was in a mediaeval building. This was once an alms house providing homes for destitute people who were willing to live under the strict moral code of the house (you could be evicted for getting married!).

On the main street of Kilkenny is a 16^th Century covered market called the Tholsel.  Its current role in obstructing traffic is not accidental; it was originally a toll collection place. Quite attractive, though.

We walked down a lane called the Butter Slip. It’s one of several mediaeval lanes in the city, and it looks like something out of a story.

Another interesting place in this part of town is Kyteler’s Inn, which was run by a woman named Alice Kyteler in the 13^th Century. It’s main claim to fame is that Alice Kyteler had a habit of marrying rich men who soon died in mysterious circumstances, which led to her being tried for witchcraft. She escaped to England to avoid being burnt to death. There is some evidence to suggest that at least one of the husbands suffered arsenic poisoning – certainly it’s hard to have much idea what the truth is after all this time. Still, it’s a fascinating spot, still an inn, and they’re happy for you to wander round and have a look.

This building nearby is called Grace’s Castle. Parts of it are around 800 years old but it has been modified and renovated a lot.

Kilkenny is just full of mediaeval buildings and laneways, there is always something interesting to see around the corner.

We saw a lot of cats around Kilkenny, but none of them looked all that fierce.

There is a brewery called Smithwicks where they make some famous beers. It’s open to the public for tours over summer but finished for the season last week. It was originally a Trappist beer, made by monks, and there is still an abbey on the grounds but you can only see it when the tours are running.

We had a walk around Kilkenny Cathedral. There is a round tower (400 years older than the current building, which is from the 13th Century) – there are ladders inside so you can climb to the top, but children aren’t allowed so we didn’t do that.

We also saw a 13th Century Dominican priory called the Black Abbey, and nearby a section of a wall which originally surrounded the city.

At one point in Kilkenny there was a tax on windows, as a rough sort of income tax (ie people whose houses had a lot of windows would tend to be richer than people who lived in houses with few or no windows so should be paying more tax). As a result, you see some very old houses with windows that have been bricked in or filled with stone work to avoid tax. The expression “daylight robbery” is said to have come from this.

The main problem with the little lanes throughout Kilkenny is that they are open to traffic. You really have to look out for stressed drivers when walking through places like this.

We had a look at the Catholic cathedral, not nearly as old as Kilkenny Cathedral but did have a board showing the names of bishops they’ve traced back to the 7^th Century.

After spending several hours wandering around Kilkenny, we walked back to our hotel and headed out in the car for the Rock of Cashel. This is a fantastic place, a mediaeval  monastery built on a huge rock which dominates the area.

There is a lot of scaffolding in place as part of a process of drying out the sandstone buildings, which have become somewhat waterlogged in the past 800 years.

Part of the complex, a building called the Vicar’s Choral, has been restored.

The main building, the cathedral, is immense – hard to describe the sense of vastness this place has.

The ground around the cathedral is full of lumps and bumps from all the burials over the centuries.

There is another church on the rock, called Cormac’s Chapel. This is very ornate, in a style that was unusual when it was built in the 12th Century. The walls were once painted with Bible scenes but the paintings were mostly destroyed during Cromwell’s time.

There is a round tower but no way to get in – the entrances were built several metres off the ground and would have been reached with steps or a ladder.

The whole site is an amazing place. By the time we had finished looking around, we were very much ready to head back to our hotel and call it a day. We did pop out again for dinner at a smaller hotel on the same street, but still had a reasonably early night.