June: A month to remember events of the past and to look forward to the future

Kilkenny was basking in the summer sunshine during the month of June.
It was perfect weather for the reopening of Rothe House and Gardens.
The city’s heritage gem reopened to the public after being closed since the previous October.
Summer weather was also a bonus for local pubs, who were finally able to reopen after months of lockdown - but only for outdoor service.

June was also a month for remembering significant events from the past. One hundred years after the Coolbawn Ambush, outside Castlecomer, Maurice Shortall wrote about the day for the Kilkenny People.
Two local men were shot dead and a third wounded when IRA volunteers were invovled in their last engagement with Crown Forces in County Kilkenny before the Truce call of July 11, 1921.
All those involved were remembered and a memorial mass was held in Castlecomer.

In remembrance of a different armed conflict, a special ceremony took place at MacDonagh Railway Station on the anniversary of D-Day to remember the Kilkenny people who died in World War II.
The event saw the cutting of a ribbon to unveil a new part of the station’s war memorial, with the 64 WWII names inscribed alongside Kilkenny’s World War I fallen. The Kilkenny Great War Memorial Committee, was the driving force behind numerous commemoration events and the erection of three war memorials in Kilkenny City.

The community came together to remember those buried in Castleinch Graveyard, and clean it up. Situated about two miles south of Kilkenny City, and connected to the ruins of the ancient church of St David, the graveyard includes tombs of prominent families: The Earls of Desart, Blunden, Lambert, Barton, Otway Cuffe, Crawford, Poe, Shearman, Boyd and Sandys, and more.
Balancing our lookback to the past, there was lots of planning for the future in June.
A car park for coaches and 120 cars on the former brewery site in the Abbey Quarter was granted permission by An Bord Pleanála.

However, the car spaces will only be for the use of those working within the Abbey Quarter, currently under construction, and not open to the public. Under the conditions attached to the permission the car park has been given a temporary, seven-year permission, despite objections.
Another city development given the go-ahead was a 123-bedroom hotel in a landmark building in the heart of the city.
The Wolfe Tone Street Hotel is being developed by Green Wolf Ltd and planning permission was granted in June by Kilkenny County Council.
The development will consist of the refurbishment of the former hospital (most recently a tourist hostel) as a hotel.

Lottery wins are few and far between but in June there was fantastic news for a local family who took home €12,740,043 when they claimed the jackpot they had won in April.
There was also good news from local gardaí who reported that burglaries in the Kilkenny district had dropped to their lowest level ever.