A snapshot of life in Kilkenny in 1775... through the eyes of the newspapers of the day

National Heritage week, an annual nationwide event organised by the Heritage Council in Ireland, is set to take place from Sunday August 17 to Monday August 24. 

Kilkenny is  always in the forefront of Heritage Week with 50 events planned across the week, including a lecture and booklet launch on local news reports from 250 years ago. 

News reports paint a picture of what it was like to live in Ireland in 1775, with dozens of articles relating to life in Kilkenny city and the wider county. 

Articles included display a vast array of topics from those of violence and tragedy to agriculture and more light-hearted recreational activities. 

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International stories of the time saw headlines dominated by the ongoing American Revolution in the United States of America. 

Meanwhile in Ireland, particularly in Kilkenny, ‘Whiteboyism’ took over a vast majority of the national headlines. 

The Whiteboys were secret agrarian groups who at the time campaigned for tenant farmer’s land rights, with Kilkenny being a stronghold for their activities. 

Such mentions of The Whiteboys, includes an article that featured in The Freemans Journal in June 1775: 

Other notable news reports surrounding life in Kilkenny across the year of 1775 include agriculture, robberies, tragedies, recreation and politics. 

In March, a robbery by a ‘Footpad’, the pseudonym for a highwayman, in Ballycallan, from February, was reported on in the Public Advertiser:

Over the course of 1775, a number of tragic fires were reported on across Kilkenny, with The Freemans Journal, reporting on one in Ballyragget in May:

Movement of British regiments across Ireland, were a key focus nationally, with key interest in the American colonies and the topical ongoing American Revolution. This was reported on in The London Craftsman in September:

House racing was the most reported on past time nationally for Irish newspapers in 1775. With the Racing Calendar reporting in October:

New Daily Advertiser, December 1775: Women in Ireland had few political rights but did appear regularly in articles, with one report noting a highwaywoman with a disrobing personality

A booklet featuring even more Kilkenny newspaper reports from 1775 will be published for Heritage Week. For more on heritage week activities across Kilkenny, and beyond, visit heritageweek.ie.