Kilkenny’s street names are a reminder of the city's vivid history

Walking the streets of Kilkenny, you aren’t simply walking on pavements, you are walking on the multi-layered history of the city itself. Names such as Friary Street, Rose Inn Street and Parliament Street all have their origins in the City’s history and the commercial and religious activity that coursed through its busy and diverse communities over hundreds of years.

The following is a short summary of some of the most distinctive and colourful street names that adorn the high-ways and by-ways of Kilkenny City. They are a fascinating glimpse into the centuries of local history that shaped and created this unique place. 

Decade of Centenaries Lecture series in Kilkenny Library

Learn about life in Kilkenny one hundred years ago

High Street - is a long narrow street that broadens in the middle, a legacy of its past when it hosted a medieval marketplace. There is a plaque at the end of High Street which states ‘High Street 1200 - widened in 1860’. The street is named because it was the highway from Kilkenny Castle to St Canice's Cathedral built by William Marshal. The Tholsel is the defining building on the High street and its name derives from two words toll (tax) and sael (hall) - the place where tolls were paid. Now Kilkenny’s City Hall, the Tholsel in medieval times acted as a courthouse, custom house, guildhall and also a meeting place for the city’s merchant class. There was also once a public gallows on the street while the Hole in the Wall tavern was a supper house and watering hole with a colourful reputation. Both Charles Stewart Parnell and Eamon De Valera spoke at public events on the High Street.

Kieran Street - this street which runs parallel to High Street was also known in the past as Low Lane, Back Lane and King Street. It was named for Ciaran’s Well, the site of an ancient church at its northern end which was demolished, the site later forming part of the public market. It was the original thoroughfare from the Castle to St Canice’s and is probably one of the oldest streets in Kilkenny. It was also reportedly home to Alice Kyteler, the infamous witch of Kilkenny who escaped the City after being condemned for heresy in the 14th century. 

Parliament Street - this street was named for the Confederate Parliament of 1648 but was earlier known as Coal Market Street as it was the site of the public market where coal from the Castlecomer mines was sold. The street was built as an extension of the High Street on the request of the occupying  English who agreed a lease of the ground from the Church for an annual rent of 4 ounces of gold. Apart from Grace’s Castle, the other notable building on the street is Rothe House, a 16th century merchant’s house restored in 1966, where the Gaelic League once taught Irish. Where the Watergate Theatre now stands, was once a defensive city gate. 

New film set during Irish Civil War of 1922 features tragic executions in Kilkenny

Film, Dear Mother by Kevin Hughes, will run at the Butler Gallery Kilkenny in November

The Parade - this open area outside Kilkenny Castle was so named because soldiers used to drill or parade on the site. Up until the 17th century it was known simply as Castle Street. From 1758 on it was called the Parade. On assuming the title,  the 16th Earl of Ormonde launched the restoration of the Castle, part of which involved the construction of a public road. The 17th  Earl commissioned the buildings where the Design and Crafts Council Ireland are now homed between 1800 and 1820. The area’s artistic legacy also includes the site of the Kilkenny Theatre which dates from about 1794. 

Friary Street - this street was named after the Capuchin Friars on the street. The Capuchins first arrived in Kilkenny in 1643. In 1756 they built a friary known as the Poor House Chapel on Walkin Street just off the central thoroughfare of High Street. In 1848 the present-day Church of St Francis was built on this site. The current classical-style friary residence was constructed in 1897, over the basement and incorporating the fabric of the earlier, eighteenth-century building. Friary Street was the site of an ambush by the First Battalion of the IRA on a convoy of British soldiers  in 1921. There were three fatalities, two IRA members and one unlucky passing civilian. 

Rose Inn Street - is situated in the Cathedral parish of St Mary’s in the townland of the Duke’s Meadows and the street name is of Norman origin. Prior to the Norman occupation of Kilkenny, only one bridge spanned the Nore, situated where Green’s Bridge is now. With the building of St John’s Abbey about 1200 by the Earl Mareschal, a bridge was constructed across the Nore near the present John’s Bridge. This meant that  a roadway to connect with Castle Street, now the Parade, was needed.

There is a lot of uncertainty around  the origin of the name. Rose Inn Street. Some say it derives from the Rose Inn  which was situated on the street but this appears to be incorrect as in a Corporation record dated 1637 it appears as Rosin Street, and in Rocques survey of the city, dated 1757, it is spelled Rozon Street. In a document from1668, it is referred to as Rosin Street, and only when the inn on the street was christened the Rose Inn later, did people then begin to call it Rose Inn Street.

Taking time to absorb these stories transforms a walk around the City into a trip back though time and allows you to imagine the life of the streets in long ago eras.