Onlinekilkenny.com

Click here for the historical timeline for Co. Kilkenny.
(Source: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com )

The following text is an extract from the wikipedia entry
for Kilkenny which can be found here.

Kilkenny (Irish: Cill Chainnigh – “The Church of St. Canice” ) is the county seat of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The city proper has a population of 22,179 (2006); it is Ireland’s smallest city both by area and population. It is, in fact, so small that there are some towns bigger than it.

Kilkenny is located on the River Nore. Kilkenny was granted a Royal Charter in 1609 by King James I of England; its status as a city was most recently recognised by Section 10(7) of the Local Government Act 2001, which allows “the continued use of the description city”, although it does not have a city council like the other Irish cities, but rather a borough council instead. Kilkenny, spanning the river Nore, is the only city in the Ireland that is not tidal. It is also the only city in the Republic that has neither an institute of technology nor a university; although the National University of Ireland, Maynooth maintains an outreach centre at St. Kieran’s College.

Kilkenny / “Cill Chainnigh” – the church of Canice – was an important town, even from pre-Christian times. Its origins appear to be focused on the high ground now occupied by St Canice’s Cathedral. The round tower here is the only above ground remnant of the early medieval monastery founded by the Irish saint – Canice himself. The surrounding area of the Irishtown, as it has been known since the Norman invasion, is therefore the oldest part of the city. The earliest church is presumed to have been built of wood being replaced eventually in the later medieval period by a romanesque-style stone church. This was in turn replaced by the current imposing medieval cathedral. A number of other religious sites around the city have given their names to many of the streets including Michael St., John St, Abbey Street and Patrick St.

The Norman presence in the town is still the most palpable. Located at a prominent bend in the River Nore, where an outcrop of rock presents a natural vantage point, the castle is built. This lies on the site of earlier wattle and mud structures and was the site of the fortifications of the Fitzpatricks and the O’Carrolls (840 A.D.), amongst others. Though the religious origins of the city are well documented, it is not known as yet quite how early these secular structures are. Later medieval life in the city was often lively with a series of walls built to protect the good burghers. The kingdom of “Ossory”, delineated by the rivers Suir and Nore, was governed by Kilkenny. In early Norman times – until the late 12th century – Kilkenny was the capital of the colony in Ireland. It also became the home of a preceptory of the Knights of St Thomas. The Statutes of Kilkenny (1366) got their name from the then Irish Parliament in Kilkenny. The statutes contained nineteen clauses, their general provision being to reduce the influence of the Irish on the Normans. They prohibited intermarriage as well as the customs and language of the Irish, which were considered to have had an adverse effect on the Norman settlers. The statutes also attempted to outlaw Brehon Laws. Kilkenny was the capital of Confederate Ireland between 1642 and 1649, until it surrendered during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

Kilkenny is the home of two noted schools, both of which are historically important. One is the Church of Ireland Kilkenny College, founded in 1538 and one of the oldest schools in the country. This school has had several notable students, including both Jonathan Swift and George Berkeley. St. Kieran’s College, founded in 1782, was the first Roman Catholic secondary school in Ireland and was created as Grattan’s Parliament caused some relaxation of the Penal Laws in the country. St. Kieran’s is a noted centre of the ancient Irish sport of hurling and has seen many famous hurling stars wearing the school’s colours. Set approximately in the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Ossory, Kilkenny is still the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory.

Statistics
Province: Leinster
County: County Kilkenny
Area: 3.74 km²
Population (2006) 22,179
Website www.kilkennycity.ie
Coordinates 52° 38′ 51.72 N, 7° 15′ 21.96 W
Decimal 52.6477°, -7.2561°