June 6th Kilkenny for Lunch

Then went to Killkenny which my grandson thought was a pretty funny name based on the South Park TV show. We got off at the castle, but we did not have time to do a tour of the castle

List of tour times

which was first occupied when Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, commonly known as Strongbow.
He constructed the first castle, probably a wooden structure, in the 12th century. The original Anglo-Norman stone castle was built for William Marshal, 4th Earl of Pembroke (c.1146-1219) during the first decade of the thirteenth century.

Kastle

Entrance gate

School boys

Field in front of the castle

Gateway to the street

Center part of the castle

Castle walls and banner

Castle from the land in front of it

One of four large circular corner towers

Sign on the castle grounds

Outside of the castle from the grounds

Informational sign

Sign on the windowsill,entrance

Tower on the corner of the castle

Forty years before our visit (short in the total timespan of the life of the castle), Arthur Butler, 6th Marquess and 24th Earl of Ormonde, sold his abandoned and deteriorating castle to the Castle Restoration Committee for £50.

Ceiling

At that time, he said, "The people of Kilkenny, as well as myself and my family, feel a great pride in the Castle, and [we feel that]... it should not be allowed to fall into ruins. There are already too many ruins in Ireland." He purchased the land in front of the castle "in order that it should never be built on and the castle would be seen in all its dignity and splendour".

Castle decoration

The best we could do was to walk around outside and a little bit inside. There are ornamental gardens on the city side of the castle, and extensive land and gardens to the front.

Front of the building

Looking out the window -

We didn't get to see much of the interior

Furnace in the castle

I understand the restored area in the central block includes a library, drawing room, and bedrooms decorated in 1830's style, as well as the Long Gallery. A suite of former servant's rooms is the Butler Art Gallery. My grandson was very impressed by the castles in Ireland - so much so that he was disappointed when he saw Buckingham Palace.

We had to eat lunch on our own (as usual) so after we walked around the castle grounds, we went across the street to a craft market place which had a cafeteria and ate lunch.

From a top window

Courtyard

Victoria standing in the arch

Some of the pottery and china displayed

Afterward we wandered through the design center, but we didn't buy anything. There were buildings around a courtyard which was once the stables of the Kilkenny Castle where artisans worked, but we didn't go there either.

Street in front

I got a piece of quiche and a

Waldorf salad

which consisted mostly of various size pieces of celery with some pieces of walnut and only about 3 pieces of apple.

Sugar packets

My grandson got a sandwich,

Grandson's soup

which he didn't care for and a cheesecake which he ate.

Grandson's cheesecake

Scott and his aunt waiting to get back on the bus

School Girls -