KILKENNY 2021
I MANAGED TO VISIT KILKENNY AT THE END OF JULY 2021
I have visited Kilkenny every year since 2011 and every visited it rained most of the time. In 2018 we had a heatwave here in Ireland, but when I visited Kilkenny it did not rain but the sky was overcast most of the time. On my first day i used a Sony 85mm GM lens and on the second day I used a Sony 24-70mm GM lens.
Because of Covid-19 travel restrictions I had no option but to cancel all my 2019 and 2020 visits to the city. Starting in January 2021 I booked a hotel every month and had to cancel and rebook until the last week in July 2021.
THIS IS NOT CROW'S WELLCANAL WALK IN KILKENNY JULY 2021 AND SEPTEMBER 2022
This series of images is from my July 2021 and September 2022 visits to Kilkenny.
This well is located on the Canal Walk on the bank of the River Nore. In 2018 a dog-walker told me that it is known as "Crow's Well" but at the time I believed that she may have been incorrect as my understanding is that Crow's Well Lock is at Fennessey's Mill. However, I was unable to locate a well at Fennessy's Mill [Archersgrove Mill] when I visited in September 2022. However, I recently discovered that Crow's well was identified as Spa Well on some old maps and that the well, at Fennessey's Mill, is so overgrown with briars and bushes that it is almost impossible to locate it.
This well is located on the Canal Walk on the bank of the River Nore. In 2018 a dog-walker told me that it is known as "Crow's Well" but at the time I believed that she may have been incorrect as my understanding is that Crow's Well Lock is at Fennessey's Mill. However, I was unable to locate a well at Fennessy's Mill [Archersgrove Mill] when I visited in September 2022. However, I recently discovered that Crow's well was identified as Spa Well on some old maps and that the well, at Fennessey's Mill, is so overgrown with briars and bushes that it is almost impossible to locate it.
TALBOT'S TOWERKILKENNY JULY 2021
The tower was known throughout the medieval period as ‘St. Patrick’s Tower’ in reference to the nearby suburb of Domhnachpatrick. In the nineteenth century it was known as ‘Watter’s tower’. The name ‘Talbot’s tower’ is an early twentieth century invention that alludes to Robert Talbot who was mayor of Kilkenny in the early fifteenth century and was traditionally credited with building the city’s walls.
There are many burial grounds across County Kilkenny some of which are vested in Church bodies and some are in the ownership of Kilkenny County Council. The cemetery featured in my photographs is administered by Kilkenny County Council and it appears to be well maintained.
Here is an interesting inscription: "Erected to the memory of John Haltigan by the Nationalists of Kilkenny 94 who have known him to make a lifelong struggle for Ireland’s freedom for which crime British law, aided by the Informer, Nagle, consigned him to a living tomb where the fiendish torture of years shattered his vigorous form but failed to subdue his noble spirit. May his unselfish patriotism be imitated until Ireland is once again a Nation. He died 10th July, 1884 aged 66 years. Also his wife, Catherine Haltigan, died 19th January, 1899 aged 83 years."
The sculpture is named Cainneach (Saint Canice - patron of Kilkenny) and it was made by Spanish sculptor Saturio Alonso in 1999.
I think that I saw it at a different location when I visited Kilkenny a few years ago. I could be wrong but I believed that it was located outside a bank on Parliament Street the first time I saw it and it was a water feature.
It is now located on Vicar Street at the bottom of the steps leading to St. Canice’s Cathedral.
The sculpture is named Cainneach (Saint Canice - patron of Kilkenny) and it was made by Spanish sculptor Saturio Alonso in 1999.
I think that I saw it at a different location when I visited Kilkenny a few years ago. I could be wrong but I believed that it was located outside a bank on Parliament Street the first time I saw it and it was a water feature.
It is now located on Vicar Street at the bottom of the steps leading to St. Canice’s Cathedral.
New Work Junction is a coworking community located in Kilkenny. Its membership includes people in software, design, media, project management, games platforms, and life sciences. By joining this community, you have the chance to meet other workers in the large common areas and meeting rooms, and to work in highly productive spaces. New Work Junction is ideal for freelancers, start-ups and remote workers, from casual desk to dedicated office.
I wakened up early on the first morning and as the weather was beautiful and because rain had been forecasted for the rest of week I decided that I should immediately visit Bishops Meadows Walk but this timed I returned to the city centre via Freshford Road.
The remnants of the old Talbot's Inch Suspension Bridge have been exposed whilst Kilkenny County Council has undertaken maintenance works along the River Nore linear park.
This pub is located on Friary Street in Kilkenny.
"Seeing pink elephants" is a euphemism for drunken hallucination caused by alcoholic hallucinosis or delirium tremens. The term dates back to at least the early 20th century, emerging from earlier idioms about snakes and other creatures. An alcoholic character in Jack London's 1913 novel John Barleycorn is said to hallucinate "blue mice and pink elephants".
MacDonagh Junction Shopping Centre located at the top of John Street next to Kilkenny Train station is the site of the former Kilkenny Union Workhouse and of the discovery of over 970 human remains in 2005 which were undocumented.
When I visited this church early in May 2017 I did not get much opportunity to take photographs as there was a very large funeral taking place. It was my intention to revisit the next day but because of poor weather I did not return until August 2018 and then I had other problems. This visit I had planned to photograph the interior but because of a fall I got distracted.
This old churchyard is known as St. John’s and it is located on Dublin Road not far from Kilkenny railway station. I visited this graveyard a number of times in the past but the weather has always been bad and the light was usually poor. This year things were much better however my camera-lens combination was giving problems.
In 1934 a number of newspapers reported the following: "Two children were killed and six others were seriously injured on Saturday night when a derelict house in Guard Lane, off the main street of Kilkenny, fell on them. The two killed were Patrick and Christopher Canavan, aged six and eight respectively, the sons of a labourer. They were buried under the debris against a wall opposite the old house. The six children injured are:—Elisabeth Canavan, Garden Row, a cousin of the dead boys; Desmond and John King (brothers), Garden Row ; John Stanch eld, Stephen's Street; Patrick Keating, Poynta Lane, and Joseph Burke, Stephen's Street."
Despite many protests and legal objections the St Francis Bridge in Kilkenny was opened in 2017 after massive cost overruns. The new bridge provides a direct route for cars and heavy vehicles right through the "Medieval Mile" of the city, splitting St Canice’s Cathedral from the rest of Kilkenny.
Sculpture in Kilkenny by Brian King. The plaque explains how to read the sundial and how to convert sun time to clock time. Arabic hour numerals are carved into the seats of the picnic stools.
The Duck pond in the Castle Park is a wildfowl sanctuary for Ducks, little Grebe, Waterhens, Coots and the occasional Swan. Th duck pond trail is a 0.2 mile (431-step) route with an elevation gain of about 0 ft and is rated as easy.
The inscription over the doorway reads “Lacken Well, Altered and Improved, July 1831.” Now in 2021, almost two hundred years later, the structure is in very poor condition which is a pity. There was no evidence of any water.
I thought that name was Grange Road rather than Granges Road. It is interesting to note that Loreto has a school on Grange Road in Dublin and a school on Granges Road in Kilkenny.
The Lacken Walk, which forms part of the River Nore Linear Park, follows the east bank of the River Nore as it flows south for Bennetsbridge. Access from either the ring road at Ossory bridge or from the "Lacken Steps" at the end of Maudlin Street/Dublin Road (near the viewing area).
The forerunner to a Public Library in Kilkenny was the Kilkenny Circulating Library in the early 1800's which had a reading room for members in the Tholsel which is now known as City Hall, the home of Kilkenny Borough Council.
There is now a pedestrian bridge connecting John's Quay to Bateman Quay which is home to a courthouse and the new Thomas Woodgate Memorial.
The Butler Gallery is a contemporary art gallery and museum in Kilkenny, Ireland. It presents a collection of works by Irish and international artists from the 18th century to the present day. A wing has been devoted to the work of the Callan artist Tony O'Malley and his wife Jane.
Kilkenny's new Riverside Garden and Skatepark opened to the public in June 2021 however the skatepark has been operational since the beginning of May and has proved to be very popular. While the Riverside Garden project provides a significant extension to the riverside walkways through the city, plans to extend this further to provide connectivity under Greens Bridge, connecting with the Linear Park at Bishops Meadows/Riverside Drive are also currently being progressed with funding from the Urban Regeneration and Development Fund.
Talbot's Inch Village was a planned village sponsored by Ellen Odette Desart (née Bischoffsheim), fourth Countess of Desart (1857-1933) as accommodation for workers associated with the Kilkenny Woodworkers Company together with the nearby Greenvale Woollen Mills. Built to designs prepared by William Alphonsus Scott (1871-1921) in a characteristic Arts-and-Crafts style.
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