Kilkenny, an inland county of Leinster, bordering on Queen's County, Carlow, Wexford, Waterford, and Tipperary. Its area is 509,732 acres, or 796 sq. m. The proportion of bog is small, and owing to this and the slope of the country the climate is dry, salubrious, and temperate. Vegetation is earlier here than in the rest of Ireland, and the soil along the valleys of the Suir, Nore, and Barrow is very rich. In the northern part there are large tracts of moor devoted to sheep and cattle, but almost nothing has been done to improve the pasturage in the lilly districts. Kilkenny forms for the most part a continuation of the Carboniferous-limestone plain, but to the south and south-east the surface rises to a considerable elevation. In the north there is another lilly region forming part of the Castlecomer anthracite coalfield. At present the output is about 80,000 tons per annum, or more than one-half the annual coal production of Ireland. In the western district are the Walsh Mountains. The principal rivers are the Suir, the Barrow, and the Nore, which all rise in the Slieve Bloom Mountains, and after widely-divergent courses empty themselves into Waterford Harbour. The chief towns are Kilkenny, Callan, Thomastown, Freshford, Uringford, and Castlecomer. Pop. (1841) 202,420; (1891) 87,261, of whom 94 per cent. were Catholics. Prior to the Union Kilkenny returned sixteen members to the Irish parliament, but now the county returns two and the city one to the imperial parliament. The linen manufacture was once a prosperous industry, but is now practically extinct, and the woollen manufacture is nearly so. There are a few breweries, distilleries, tanneries, flour-mills, and marble-polishing works.
Kilkenny, anciently part of the kingdom of
Ossory, was formed into a county by King John in 1210, and during the Revolution was held by the Irish for James II. It was made an English settlement after the Norman invasion, and was the scene of a long succession of conflicts between the two races. The Norman remains are very numerous, and among other antiquities are circular groups of stones on Slieve Grian and the Hill of Cloughmanta, several cromlechs and raths, numerous forts and mounds, five round towers, and monastic ruins at Jerpoint, Rosbercon, Thomas-town, Knocktopher, and elsewhere. The most notable castle is Graney, in Iverk, supposed to have been founded by the Earls of Ormonde in 1521, and of which three towers are still standing. The cave of Dunmore, between Kilkenny and Castlecomer, which opens with a natural arch 50 feet high, is noted for its beautiful stalactite chambers and its subterranean stream. At Silverwood and Ballygunnion are the remains of very ancient lead-mines. Mangancse, marl, pipeclay, marble, and copper are still found. See J. G. Robertson's Antiquities and Scenery of Kilkenny (1851).