St Kieran's College

The siege of Kilkenny was the isolation and capture of the fortified capital of the Irish Confederates by the New Model Army of the English Parliamentarians in March 1650 during the conquest of Ireland by Oliver Cromwell.

Kilkenny (Irish: Cill Chainnigh, meaning 'church of Cainnech') is a city in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region and in the province of Leinster. It is built on both banks of the River Nore. The 2016 census gave the total population of Kilkenny as 26,512.Kilkenny is a tourist destination, and its environs include historic buildings such as Kilkenny Castle, St Canice's Cathedral and round tower, Rothe House, Shee Alms House, Black Abbey, St. Mary's Cathedral, Kilkenny Town Hall, St. Francis Abbey, Grace's Castle, and St. John's Priory. Kilkenny is also known for its craft and design workshops, the Watergate Theatre, public gardens and museums. Annual events include Kilkenny Arts Festival, the Cat Laughs comedy festival and music at the Kilkenny Roots Festival.Kilkenny began with an early 6th-century ecclesiastical foundation within the Kingdom of Ossory. Following the Norman invasion of Ireland, Kilkenny Castle and a series of walls were built to protect the burghers of what became a Norman merchant town. William Marshall, Lord of Leinster, gave Kilkenny a charter as a town in 1207. By the late 13th century, Kilkenny was under Hiberno-Norman control. The Statutes of Kilkenny, passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aimed to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland. In 1609, King James I of England granted Kilkenny a Royal Charter, giving it the status of a city. Following the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Irish Catholic Confederation, also known as the "Confederation of Kilkenny", was based in Kilkenny and lasted until the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in 1649. From 1840 onwards, Kilkenny has not been administered as a city under local government law, but the Local Government Reform Act 2014 provides for "the continued use of the description city". Kilkenny was a brewing centre from the late 17th century, and still houses a number of breweries. The Heritage Council offices are at Church Lane in the former Bishop's Palace. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St Mary's Cathedral and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory is at St Canice's Cathedral.

Butler House is an 18th-century Georgian Dower house located in Kilkenny, Ireland. It is currently working as a 4-star hotel and conference centre.

The Tholsel on High Street, Kilkenny, Ireland was built in 1761 by Alderman William Colles as place for collecting tolls, but has also been used as a customs house, a courthouse and a guildhall. It is used today as the city hall, and this is the name by which many local people know the building. Key features of the building are the open arcade on the ground floor, which straddles the pavement; the copper-clad octagonal tower projecting from the hipped slate roof; the clock, and the tower's viewing platform. On the southern façade is a relief sculpture of the town coat of arms. The Tholsel commands a central position on High Street and contributes significantly to the street's unique character. The Tholsel's arcade is an ideal place for carol singers or buskers to perform, and is a traditional meeting point, acting as a covered piazza. It is used as a temporary exhibition space during Kilkenny's annual Arts Week and at Christmas time it traditionally houses the Christmas Crib. On 20 September 1985 the Tholsel was gutted by fire. That evening, fireman Joe Stapleton was completing his duties as the Town Sergeant when he discovered a fire on the upper floor of the building. He called the fire service, opened the main gates for the fire tenders and brought the 17th-century charters of the city to safety. It took 35 firemen and six fire engines to fight this fire, which was started by a small electrical fault.

St Mary’s is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ossory. It is situated on James’s Street, Kilkenny, Ireland. Saint Mary’s was designed by William Deane Butler (c.1794-1857). He was chosen by Bishop William Kinsella (1793-1845) who instigated the building of St. Mary’s in February 1842. Work began in April 1843 and finished in 1857. On Sunday 4 October 1857, St. Mary’s had its grand opening, which consisted of a two-and-three-quarter hour ceremony that began at 6.15am. The cost of the building is estimated to have been £25,000. St. Mary’s is made from cut-limestone which was sourced locally. The cathedral has a cruciform plan and its style is described as ‘Early English Gothic’. The design is believed to have been based on Gloucester Cathedral in Gloucester, England. It is situated on the highest point in Kilkenny City and is a significant local landmark. The cathedral is variously referred to as "St Mary’s", "the church of St Kieran" and "the Cathedral of the Assumption". Its bell in the steeple was made by John Murphy, a Dublin foundry. It rings every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, marking the quarter hour, half hour and hour with different patterns and an extended peal of bells marks midday and midnight. St. Mary’s has a noted sculpture of the Madonna by Giovanni Maria Benzoni (1809-1873).

St. Mary's Church was a church in Kilkenny, Ireland, going back to the Norman settlement of the town which was deconsecrated in 1957. The building is used as the Medieval Mile Museum since 2017.

Shee Alms House was founded by the Shee family in 1582 'to accommodate twelve poor persons' in the city of Kilkenny, Ireland. It is a nationally significant Tudor period Almshouse.

Cartoon Saloon is an Irish animation film, short film and television studio based in Kilkenny which provides film TV and short film services. The studio is best known for its animated feature films The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner and Wolfwalkers. Their works have received five Academy Award nominations, their first four feature length works all received nominations for Best Animated Feature and one for Best Animated Short Film (Late Afternoon). The company also developed the cartoon series Skunk Fu!, Puffin Rock, Dorg Van Dango and Vikingskool. As of 2020, the studio employs 300 animators.

CBS Kilkenny (Irish: Scoil na mBráithre Criostaí) is a Roman Catholic school located in Kilkenny, Ireland. It has a sporting tradition in hurling, but also fields teams in rugby and basketball. It is located on James' Street in Kilkenny. The school was founded in 1860 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers for a sum of £3000. is very influential in the Kilkenny community and sets an example for the other schools in Kilkenny.

Confederate Ireland, also referred to as the Irish Catholic Confederation or Confederacy, was a period of Irish Catholic self-government between 1642 and 1649, during the Eleven Years' War. Formed by Catholic aristocrats, landed gentry, clergy and military leaders after the Irish Rebellion of 1641, the Confederates controlled up to two thirds of Ireland from their base in Kilkenny; hence it is sometimes called the "Confederation of Kilkenny". The Confederates included Catholics of Gaelic and Anglo-Norman descent. They wanted an end to anti-Catholic discrimination within the Kingdom of Ireland and greater Irish self-governance; many also wanted to roll back the plantations of Ireland. Most Confederates professed loyalty to Charles I of England in the belief they could reach a lasting settlement in return for helping defeat his opponents in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Its institutions included a legislative body known as the General Assembly, an executive or Supreme Council, and a military. It minted coins, levied taxes and set up a printing press. Confederate ambassadors were appointed and recognised in France, Spain and the Papal States, who supplied them with money and weapons. At various times, Confederate armies fought Royalists, Parliamentarians, Ulster Protestant militia and Scots Covenanters; these controlled the Pale, parts of eastern and northern Ulster, and the region around Cork. Charles authorised secret negotiations which in September 1643 resulted in a Confederate–Royalist ceasefire and led to further talks, most of which proved unsuccessful. In 1644, a Confederate military expedition landed in Scotland to help Royalists there. The Confederates continued to fight the Parliamentarians in Ireland, and decisively defeated the Covenanter army in the Battle of Benburb. In 1647, the Confederates suffered a string of defeats at Dungan's Hill, Cashel and Knockanuss. This prompted them to make an agreement with the Royalists, leading to internal divisions which hampered their ability to resist a Parliamentarian invasion. In August 1649, a large English Parliamentarian army, led by Oliver Cromwell, invaded Ireland. By May 1652 it had defeated the Confederate–Royalist alliance, although Confederate soldiers continued a guerrilla warfare campaign for a further year.

Kyteler's Inn is a public house located in the centre of medieval Kilkenny in Ireland.With parts of the building dating to the 13th or 14th century, the building is traditionally associated with the Kyteler family and with Dame Alice Kyteler, an alleged witch from the area. The building has housed an inn since 1639.A restoration was carried out in the late 1960s. However, an archaeological survey to date the building was not undertaken. Archaeologist Conleth Manning expressed particular regret over this since the building has a "fine groin-vaulted undercroft" that makes a 14th-century date plausible. He regrets the fact that a "fine fireplace" was disassembled and rebuilt elsewhere in the building. Manning also condemns the removal of the "original stone stairs to the undercroft" and of the surviving "medieval roof timbers" without any expert examination. Only the lower story dates to the medieval period.When it was offered for sale in 1975, it housed a restaurant and pub. In 1986 it was sold to its present owner. Noted for offering traditional Irish music, in 2012 it won an award as the best music bar in Ireland.According to a New York Times article from the late 1970s, the entrance level was then "modernized drab, but down one flight of dark stairs is the 13th century".

Smithwick's Experience Kilkenny (formerly St. Francis Abbey Brewery and Kilkenny Brewery) was a brewery-turned-brewery-tour located on the "medieval mile" in Kilkenny, Ireland.The Smithwick's Experience Kilkenny was the site where Smithwick's was brewed from the 1700s until 2014. Prior to this, the site was owned by Franciscan friars who also brewed beer before they were dissolved during the Reformation in 1537. The site was a visitor centre and brewery tour that covered the location's history, the brand evolution, a bar and tastings, visual effects including holograms, and a gift shop. The visitor centre closed in 2021.