📣Important Notice📣
With the recent high temperatures, we have some important advice for your visit:
IMPORTANT NOTICE
Please note that no third-party organisations are authorised to sell tickets to Kilkenny Castle. Tickets bought from other sites, including ticketing resale platforms, will not be valid and such ticket-holders will be refused entry. Furthermore, we are aware that there are fraudulent websites purporting to be www.kilkennycastle.ie. These websites and domain names look similar, but have no connection whatsoever to the Office of Public Works or Kilkenny Castle. We urge extra vigilance, as any tickets purchased from fraudulent sites cannot be honoured.
This is the only legitimate website to purchase tickets for Kilkenny Castle
BOOK TICKETS HERE
Welcome to Kilkenny Castle and Parklands
Few buildings in Ireland can boast a longer history of continuous occupation than Kilkenny Castle.
Founded soon after the Norman conquest of Ireland, the Castle has been rebuilt, extended and adapted to suit changing circumstances and uses over a period of 800 years.
Today, Kilkenny Castle is open to visitors all year round and is largely a Victorian remodelling of the thirteenth century defensive Castle.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of visitors come to see this grand country house and walk through its fifty acres of rolling parkland with mature trees and an abundance of wildlife.
Other features include a formal terraced rose garden, woodlands and a man-made lake, which were added in the nineteenth century.
There is also a tearoom, playground and several orienteering trails for visitors to enjoy.
Please note that Free admission on the first Wednesday of each month is no longer applicable at Kilkenny Castle. Click here to access the full list of participating sites.
Please Note CCTV system is in operation at Kilkenny Castle and Park. Images are recorded for the purposes of security and personal safety.
Click here to read the OPW Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Systems Privacy Statement
Click here to read the OPW Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Systems Data Protection Policy
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Our exhibitions
The Castle Blog
The Month of January and Kilkenny Castle.
Located in the Main Hall of Kilkenny Castle today, there are a pair of beautifully decorated bronze urns originally designed for a garden. The pair are very fine copies of two bronze urns designed in the Louis XIV style by Claude Ballin for Versailles. The...
Mary Shelley, Richard Rothwell and James Butler
As you enter the Main Hall of Kilkenny Castle today one of the most striking portraits on display on the right hand side is of James Butler (1774 -1838) 1st Marquess (3rd creation), 19th Earl of Ormonde and Chief Butler of Ireland. In the portrait, the Marquess...
Vita Sancti Kannechi (The Life of St. Canice).
John Butler (1808 – 1854), 20th Earl and 2nd Marquess of Ormonde was born in Dublin and like other members of his family he was educated at Harrow and then Christchurch Oxford. Like his father James Butler (1774 -1838) he was elected a Whig M.P. for Kilkenny (1833...