Tag Archives: Ireland

Today we move inside Kilkenny Castle. I hope you enjoy the show, beginning with the State Dining Room:

And I’ll bet you wish you had a Library such as this one:

But the most impressive room by far at Kilkenny Castle is the Picture Gallery Wing. This massive wing was constructed in the 19th century:

You can see from the photograph above that the gallery takes up the entire upper floor of the wing. Natural light is brought into the gallery via a series of skylights that runs the complete length along the ridgeline of the roof. But the grandeur of this gallery includes a surprise, also along the ceiling. That would be the hand-painted beamed ceiling:

And then there is, of course, the exquisite artwork of the collection:

I shall leave you today with this final image of this statue just beyond the westside entrance to the castle:

Today I present to you the magnificent KilKenny Castle. This incredible residence was home to the Butler family from 1391 until 1935. Alas, that taxes did them in, and in 1967 Lord Ormonde relinquished the dilapidated remains of the estate to the State for the bargain basement price of £50. See: History of Kilkenny Castle.

Next week I’ll show you the interiors of this wonder, but today we’re concentrating on the exteriors:

The grounds you see above are east of the actual structure. Here’s a view of the estate gardens awaiting you on the west side of the castle:

Now let’s enjoy some of the exterior detail of this example of late 12th century Norman architecture: