Kilkenny takes its name from Cill Chainnigh, ‘church of Cainneach’, the sixth-century saint whose foundation grew into a medieval city built on dark limestone so fine it was polished and sold as marble.
Contae Chill Chainnigh · The Cats · Leinster
Kilkenny takes its name from Cill Chainnigh, ‘church of Cainneach’, the sixth-century saint whose foundation grew into a medieval city built on dark limestone so fine it was polished and sold as marble.
This was the seat of the Butler Earls of Ormond at Kilkenny Castle for six hundred years, and the city where the Statutes of Kilkenny were signed in 1366 — a county whose hurlers, ‘the Cats’, have never lost their fighting name.
