Kilkenny has the distinction of being the only true inland city in the country. Urban beginnings were pre‐Norman: Kilkenny was the ecclesiastical and political centre of the kingdom and diocese of Ossory. However, it was in the 13th century—as focal point of Anglo‐Norman power in south Leinster—that the city first achieved prominence, reflected in a remarkable cluster of monastic foundations and the reconstruction of its cathedral. Four contiguous boroughs nestled together, but only the urban core of ‘Hightown’, adjacent to the great castle of the
Marshals, was walled. The town's prosperity was linked to the
wool trade of its hinterland, a measure of that prosperity being the recurrent meeting of the medieval Irish
parliament within its walls.
Kilkenny had a second cycle of expansion in the late 15th, 16th, and early 17th centuries, becoming in effect capital of the
Ormond lordship and benefiting from sustained Butler patronage. The unique survival of civic architecture and funereal monuments from that period is a pointer to the wealth of its merchants and their patrons. The choice of Kilkenny as location for the assembly of the
Confederate Catholics (1642–8) was tribute both to the strength of its Catholic burghers and to its civic prestige.
After the wars, trade passed to Protestant hands, but 18th‐century Kilkenny retained its Catholic and
Old English ambience. Population grew from around 2,000 in the 1660s to about 18,500 in 1821, a transformation linked to the growth of woollen blanket manufacture in the town, together with
brewing,
flour milling, and marble stone‐cutting. In addition Kilkenny became a regional service and consumption centre and continued a long tradition of outstanding schools. Until the coming of the
railways it was also the busiest resting point on the Dublin‐Cork road.
Industrial decline and transport change after 1830 froze, then sharply reduced, Kilkenny's size; but during this time much of the castle was spectacularly rebuilt and the city continued its distinctive cultural history: the Kilkenny Archaeological Society was founded in 1849 and became a highly influential national organization. In the mid‐20th century Kilkenny re‐emerged to become a provincial leader in the arts, craft design, and urban conservation.
Bibliography
Clarke, Howard (ed.), Irish Cities (1995);
Nolan, William, and Whelan, Kevin (eds.), Kilkenny: History and Society (1990)
David Dickson
