Location: Kilkenny, Kilkenny County Map
Constructed: 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke
Kilkenny Castle is a medieval castle situated in a city of Kilkenny in Kilkenny County in Ireland. Kilkenny Castle was erected in 1195 by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke.
Early Earls of Pembroke
On the strategically located hill on the shore of the Nore there was
probably a fortification already before the 12th century. Kilkenny
with the abbey of St. Canice was the headquarters of the local kings
of Osraige from the Clan of the Mac Giolla Phádraig.
In the Wake of the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland, Richard de
Clare, 2. Earl of Pembroke, called belonged to Strongbow, in 1171,
with the lordship of Leinster in fief, before passing to the
Kilkenny. He built a first Castle, probably a wooden moth, in the
year after, but was already destroyed in 1173 by a revolt of the
Gaelic Clans. However, the area remained in the possession of the
Earls of Pembroke.
His daughter and heiress, Isabel, married in 1189 William Marshal,
1. Earl of Pembroke, who was Lord of large estates in Ireland,
England, Wales, and France, which he managed efficiently. When Lord
of Leinster made Geoffrey FitzRobert the Seneschall of Leinster,
under which a busy building activity began: the city of Kilkenny was
expanded, got a city wall and in 1207 the city law. The construction
of a stone castle was started in 1195 and completed in 1213. This
castle forms the core of today's Kilkenny Castle; built above a
rectangular floor plan, it received four round corner towers, three
of which have been preserved to this day.
Marshal inherited Kilkenny to his daughter Eva, wife of William de
Braose, 7th Baron of Bramber. His daughter Eleanor de Braose, who
was married to Humphrey V. de Bohun, came to her son Gilbert de
Bohun, Seneschall von Kilkenny, the younger brother of Humphrey de
Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford, who owned it until his death in 1327.
After the death of his descendant of the same name in 1381, the
castle fell to the English crown. In 1391 it was sold to the family
of Butler, Earls of Ormonde, in whose possession they remained more
than five hundred years.
Among the Earls of Ormonde
The Butler family had changed their name from Fitz Walter to Butler
in 1185. She came to Ireland with the Normans during the Norman
Invasion. James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde built in Gowran Gowran
Castle, making the family rich. In 1391 he bought Kilkenny Castle
and thus established his family as ruler of the castle and The
Associated lands. The castle became the headquarters of the Earls of
Ormonde, who later became Duke and Marquess. However, much of the
family, including James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde, was moved to
St. Mary's Collegiate Church in Gowran buried.Other well-known
members of the Butler family were Lady Margaret Butler
(1454/1465-1539) and her father Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde.
Margaret Butler was born on Kilkenny Castle and later married Sir
William Boleyn. Their daughter, Anne Boleyn was the second wife of
Henry VIII.
In the 17th century, Elizabeth Preston, the wife of James Butler and
12th Earl of Ormonde, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at that
time, owned the castle. Butler, who was unpopular in the family, was
a Protestant and throughout the Irish Confederate wars in the 1640s,
the representative of Charles I. in Ireland. Butler went into exile
to Dublin, and Kilkenny Castle became the headquarters of the
Catholic rebels. The parliament or Supreme Council met at Kilkenny
Castle from 1642 to 1648. In 1650 the castle was besieged by an army
led by Oliver Cromwell, which damaged the eastern wall and the
northeastern Tower. Later the remains of the wall and Tower were
demolished. After Butler returned from exile, he rebuilt the castle
in 1661 as a" modern castle". Around this time a new entrance gate
was built on the south wall. As a model, castles from Normandy were
used, which is why Stone was imported from Caen. Since then Kilkenny
Castle has been called a castle.
In the 18th century, the Butler family impoverished and the castle
was run down. Small restorations were carried by Anne Wandesford of
Castlecomer, who brought money to the family by marriage to John
Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde.
In the 19th century, the members of the Butler family tried to
renew the castle and restore it to its medieval splendour. They
reconstructed, among other things, the Northern wing and the facade
of the building. The building was expanded in 1854 by several
extensions. Architect was William Robertson.
In 1899, Kilkenny Castle was visited by the future king George V and
his wife, five years later, Edward VII and his wife Alexandra
visited the castle.
The castle was continuously expanded to the headquarters of the
Marquess of Ormonde. The Expansion ended with the death of James
Butler, 3. Marquess of Ormonde in 1919. Because Lord Ormonde had
only two daughters, it was agreed that all of the possession now to
the nephew of James Butler, 3. Marquess of Ormonde, passed. Arthur
Butler, 4. Marquess of Ormonde, the brother and heir of the 3.
Marquess of Ormonde, abdicated in favor of his son, George Butler,
5. Marquess of Ormonde, led to the title of Earl of Ossory. George
Butler and his wife lived in Kilkenny Castle from 1921, together
with their two children Antony, Viscount Thurles and Lady Moyra
Butler.
During the Irish civil war in 1923, Republicans were besieged by
forces of the Irish Free State on Kilkenny Castle. The Ormones
remained voluntarily on site in their bedroom, which was above the
Great Gate and thus in the then main attack zone. Although a machine
gun was positioned in front of the gate, among other things, only
one man was injured. The castle was severely damaged, the repair
work lasted for several years. In the 1920s and 1930s, the
succession of the title and lands seemed assured, because there were
already three generations of direct male heirs.
George Butler, Earl of Ossory, and his family lived at the castle
until 1935. In 1935, they auctioned the plant for 6 000 orts and
moved to London, and the castle remained uninhabited for over 30
years. In 1938, Arthur, George and Anthony Butler agreed to
re-regulate the Trust in which the possessions were located. Due to
the impact of high taxes, inheritance taxes, economic crises and
cost of living, they had to bear high costs. In the 1880s, the
Ormondes had received 22,000 terms of rent and invested a lot. In
addition, they received in 1915 for 85 km2 of land 240,000 of them.
By inheritance taxes and other costs after the death of James
Butler, 3rd Marquess of Ormonde in 1919, however, only £166,000
remained. In the 1930s, investment income amounted to about 9000
us$. Around 1950, investment income was only $ 850. The Ormondes
sold a large part of their rented properties in County Tipperary and
Kilkenny.
Antony Butler, Viscount Thurles died unexpectedly in 1940, and after
the 4th Marquess died in 1943 and the 5th Marquess in 1949, the real
estate was inherited by James Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde.
After over 570 years of family ownership, Kilkenny Castle was sold
in 1967 by James Butler, 6th Marquess of Ormonde, to the Kilkenny
Castle Restoration Commitee for 50 units, after the castle had been
run down for years.
The last Butler in Kilkenny, James Butler, 6. Marquess of Ormonde.
When the sale became official, he said: "the people in Kilkenny,
also me and my family, are proud of our castle and we did not like
this deterioration. We have decided that the castle should not turn
into a ruin. There are already too many ruins in Ireland."the people
of Kilkenny, as well as myself and my family, feel a great pride in
the Castle, and we have not liked to see this determination. We
determined that it should not be allowed to fall into ruins. There
are already too many ruins in Ireland.) He also bought the land in
front of the castle from the insolvency administrator. In order that
it should never be built on and the castle would be seen in all its
dignity and splendour.) The celebration of the handover of Kilkenny
Castle and the estates to the Castle Restoration Committee also
marked the foundation of the Butler family. Guests included Mick
Jagger and Marianne Faithfull.