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Historic Buildings of Co. Kilkenny A - B
Republic of Ireland
Image right - Balief Castle Geograph © Copyright Eirian Evans and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
Due to the numerous Historical buildings and castles in of County Kilkenny the project has been split into 4 projects. (The arrowed buttons below are linked to the other pages).
See Historic Buildings Ireland - Main Page
If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project.
The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in County Kilkenny, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.
Castles, Baronial and Historic houses
... in alphabetical order
Full sizes of the thumbnail images can be seen in the Gallery attached to the project or by clicking the thumbnail image. TIP - Use ctrl+the link to open the image in a separate tab, or use "back" to return to this project page) Sources for the images can be found in the image details as seen in the gallery.
Names with Bold links are to Geni profiles or projects. Other links take you to external biographical web pages. Please copy and paste the bullet used - ● - instead of * when adding items to the list.
A
● Aghaviller ancient monastic settlement consisting of a round tower, a church and 
a holy well. In the mid-C16 the Comerfords converted the chancel of the C12 church into a three storey stronghouse. The first known reference to the round tower is in the Statistical Survey of 1802. The original doorway was blocked up then and was still sealed in 1839.
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence
● Annaghs Castle; Ruins. Medieval tower house on the banks of the River Barrow. Samuel Grubb (1645-1696), son of John Grubb and Mary Towers, who married Rebecca Thrasher, daughter of William Thrasher lived at Annaghs Castle. Patrick Garvey had a descendant named John Garvey who moved to Annaghs Castle, Co. Kilkenny in about 1730. Legend has it that the site of Annaghs Castle was where Strongbow married Eva McMurrough in the first days of the Norman invasion).
Image Geograph © Copyright Kieran Campbell and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Annaghs House rebuilt in the mid nineteenth century to designs by Charles Geoghegan (1820-1908) following a fire in 1867: superseding a medieval Butler castle the house represents the continuation of a long-standing occupation of the grounds.
Image Buildings of Ireland Awaiting permission)
● Castle Annaghs Estate, Georgian house, a Gate Lodge, Stewards House, Grooms House and a historic 16th century tower, believed to be where Strongbow, the second Earl of Pembroke, wed Aoife, is located two miles south of New Ross and its boundary is defined on two sides by the River Barrow. The property is also linked to the Wexford rebel, Fr John Murphy, who stayed there the night before the Battle of Ross in 1798. In 2007 An Bord Pleanala refused planning permission for a multi-million Euro development, comprising of a hotel, 83 apartments, an 18 hole golf course, a nursing home and 63 houses.
B
● Balief Castle - round tower near Urlingford. This tower house is one of a small number in Ireland that are round in plan, rather than the usual square/rectangular plan. The castle was home to the Shortal family and later the St. Georges.
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Balleen Castle fragmentary remains of a former Mountgarret-Butler five storey strong-house that was destroyed in 1650. The castle was the residence of the Mountgarret family. In 1600, Thomas, Earl of Ormonde to the castle from the Lord Viscount Mountgarret. Margaret FitzGerald, Countess Ormonde, lady of Piers, 8th Earl of Ormonde, had a principal part in building Balleen Castle. Richard, 3rd Vicount Mountgarret probably re-built it in 1647. In 1596 “Ballyn” is mentioned among the principal residences of the County Kilkenny. 
Image - JSTOR openly available as part of an Open JSTOR Collection.
Richard third Viscount Mountgarret, appeared to have made Balleen his residence, in preference to Ballyragget, where his father and grandfather had lived before him. There is a tradition, handed down in Irish, that Balleen castle was never finished and was never inhabited. The story goes that, as the tradesmen who built it were nearly finished the building, a raven flew over their heads and told them to proceed no further as the Lord of Balleen had just become a ruined man. They left the castle immediately.
○ Library Ireland - Balleen
● Ballinlaw Castle; Ruins. property of the Earls of Ormond, forfeited under Cromwell, in 1653 by Richard Butler, Irish Papist. Possible Connections? Paddy Henebry, original seat of Richard Gaul Burke O'Donovan
Image Geograph © Copyright Kieran Campbell licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Ballybur Castle; Restored Castle. Built by Richard Comerford around 1588. The Comerfords occupation of the castle came to an end in 1654 when John Comerford was forced out. He subsequently forfeited the castle and land to Brian Manseragh during the Cromwellian land distribution survey. Brian Manseragh was an ancestor of Martin Manseragh, the senator from Tipperary. Frank and Aifric Gray bought Ballybur in 1970, by which time it had fallen into disrepair with the roof missing. The castle is now completely refurbished.
● Ballycuddihy Castle small three storey tower by the roadside near to Sevensisters and Johnstown. Presented to Henry Gratten as a gift in recognition of his services to his country
● Ballydonnell Castle aka Legan collapsed c1880. Oliver Grace's son Gerald who built Ballylinch castle in q563 lived at Legan Castle before he moved there. The townlands and castles of Legan and Ballylinch belonged to Jerpoint Abbey until the Suppression of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1541.
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Ballylinch Castle: Originally called Bally Inch, which is a translation of the Gaelic "Baile Inse", meaning the peninsulated townland. The townlands and castles of Legan and Ballylinch belonged to Jerpoint Abbey until the Suppression of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1541. They were then granted to Thomas, Earl of Ormande (the Black Earl). The Earl of Carrick amalgamated the two estates: Thomas in turn granted them to Oliver Grace, a descendant of the Norman adventurer Raymond Fitzwilliam le Gros. Oliver's son Gerald built Ballylinch Castle and moved there from Legan Castle in 1563. However, the Graces were dispossessed by Cromwell, who in 1654 granted Ballylinch to one of his followers, Colonel Daniel Redman. His daughter Eleanor married James Butler, the third Viscount Ikerrin, who moved their residence to Ballylinch from Lismalin in Tipperary. In 1757 the Rev Thomas Bushe sold what had formerly been Walton's Grove to his neighbour, Somerset Hamilton Butler, the eighth Viscount Ikerrin and first Earl of Carrick, thus amalgamating the two estates. Mount Juliet House - a romantic tribute to Lady Juliana. The Earl of Carrick built his mansion on the opposite bank of the River Nore and called it Mount Juliet in compliment to his wife, Lady Juliana (nee Boyle), who was always known as Juliet. The family moved their residence from Ballylinch Castle, which was mostly torn down. The Earl of Carricks family remained in Mount Juliet from the 1750s until 1914, when the then Earl sold the estate to the McCalmont family who lived there until quite recently.•••also: Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle Sylvanus Urban (pseud. van Edward Cave.) - 1824 - Great Britain. It was, also, during the terrible civil wars of 1641, that the resistance of Gerald Grace, of Ballylinch and Carney Castles, to the Protectoral government, was ...
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Ballyragget Castle Ruins. Built in 1495 by the Mountgarret family, a branch of the Butler family one of whom, Richard Butler became first Viscount Mountgarret in 1550; In 1600 it was garrisoned by Sir George Carew against the Mountgarrets who were in opposition to the crown. The castle was once a residence of Lady Margaret Fitzgerald, the Countess of Ormonde. Her son was the above Richard Butler, 1st Viscount Mountgarret. Butlers continued to occupy the building until 1788 when they moved into a house close by.
○ The Irish Aesthete - Kilkenny
●
Image The Irish Aesthete
● Ballysallagh stands on land which was owned by members of the Purcell family. The Purcells were of Anglo-Norman origin, their name believed to derive from the old French word ‘pourcel’ meaning piglet. Sir Hugh Purcell is said to have participated in the Norman invasion of Ireland and in the early 13th century his grandson, also called Sir Hugh Purcell, married Beatrix, a daughter of Theobald FitzWalter, Chief Butler of Ireland. This union was the origin of the link between the family and the powerful Butlers; in 1328 James Butler, first Earl of Ormond granted the Purcells the feudal title of Baron of Loughmoe, County Tipperary. The grandfather of the late 17th century composer Henry Purcell was a cousin of the Baron of Loughmoe. Ballysallagh remained in the possession of the Purcells during the Tudor colonisation despite periodic attempts at rebellion: in December 1571 Nicholas Purcell fitz Edmund of Ballysallagh was pardoned by the crown authorities, as was Edmund Purcell in 1589 and Edmund Purcell fitz Nicholas in 1600. However in 1653 Nicholas Purcell forfeited Ballysallagh and 758 acres under the Cromwellian seizures, and a large number of members of the family were certified for transplantation to Connaught. The family remained on the site, most likely as tenants; in the early 18th century James Purcell was living at Ballysallagh and in 1720 his daughter and heiress, Mary Purcell wed Gerald Byrne from County Carlow who was assigned the property as part of the marriage settlement. It seems likely the couple built the present house soon afterwards: a stone at the front carries the date 1722. Gerald and Mary Byrne had several children, only one of whom, their daughter Catherine, survived to adulthood. (Gerald Byrne also had an illegitimate son, James Byrne to whom in his will he left farm stock and land.) Dying in 1740 at the age of 26 Catherine predeceased both her parents but not before marrying William Doyle of County Kildare, with whom she had three children, two sons and a daughter. One of those sons, Gerald Doyle, inherited Ballysallagh from his grandfather Gerald Byrne in 1760. Two years after the death of Catherine Doyle her husband, Gerald Doyle’s father, had married again, his second wife being Frances Purcell of Usher’s Island, Dublin; with her, he had another three children, once more two sons and a daughter. However, neither Gerald Doyle nor his older brother Laurence married and in 1785 they sold their interest in Ballysallagh and its 450 acres to the family of their step-mother. Thus it remained in the possession of the Doyles, although not descended by blood from the original Purcells. Instead it belonged to the children of William Doyle’s second marriage, first another William Doyle, who also lived in Rutland Square, Dublin and died unmarried in 1847 and then Joseph Doyle, a doctor who served as Surgeon to the College at Maynooth, County Kildare. He likewise married a Purcell and the couple had a son John Joseph Doyle who inherited Ballysallagh and lived there until his death in 1890 at the age of 75. John Joseph’s son Gerald Doyle was the last of the family to live at Ballysallagh: following his death in 1939 for the first time the place was put on the market.
○ The Irish Aesthete (with many images of the interior)
● Ballysean Castle (Sometimes spelt Ballyshawnmore, Ballysheanmor, Ballyshanemore) near the centre of Gowran. built by the Butlers of Ormond.
● Bessborough House
○ Dowley History - the town of Carrick on Suir
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Brady's Castle attached three storey fortified tower house in Thomastown, in Low Street, built c1500, and was in use as a store until its conversion to a B&B.
Image Geograph © Copyright Mike Searle and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Burnchurch Castle Intact Castle. National Monument in 1993. said to have been built and owned by the Fitzgeralds of the house of Desmond in 15th century. The castle stayed within the Fitzgerald family until Richard Fitzgerald lost their land to Colonel William Warden during the Cromwellian invasion, Richard and his family were ’transplanted’ to Connaught in 1654. Later the house passed into the hands of the Flood family through marriage, and was occupied until 1817. Near to Kells Priory. See Richard Fitzgerald Baron of Burnchurch, son of John Fitzgerald, 3rd Baron of Burnchurch, J.P, son of Roland Fitzgerld, 2nd Baron of Burnchurch, M.P and ancestors
○ Carney Castle - Burnchurch
○ Rootsweb - Fitzgerald
Image Geograph © Copyright Eirian Evans and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.
● Butler House is the Dower House of Kilkenny Castle associated with the Butler Family. The house was home to Lady Eleanor Butler who lived here after the death of her husband Walter in 1783. Lady Eleanor Butler was the mother of John, the 17th Earl of Ormonde and her daughter, also Eleanor, was one of the famous "ladies of Langollen". James, Earl of Ormonde resided in the house while the Castle was under reconstruction in 1831. A soup kitchen was run from here during the cholera epidemic of 1832. The Royal historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland held their meetings in Butler House in 1870. Kilkenny Design, the state design agency, restored Butler House in 1972. In 1989, the Kilkenny Civic Trust acquired both Butler House and the Castle Stables. The house was then opened to the public as a guesthouse and conference centre.
References and Sources
County Kilkenny Specific
▷ WIKI - Buildings and Structures in County Kilkenny
▷ - Eircom
▷ Facebook - Kilkenny Archaeology
General
▷ WIKI List of historical abbeys, castles and monuments in Ireland
▷ Irish Tourism - Buildings in Ireland
▷ Irish Tourist - Historic Buildings
▷ Irish Central - Historical sites to visit in Ireland
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Other Pages for Historic Buildings of Ireland Counties
Historic Buildings of County Cavan
Historic Buildings of County Carlow
Historic Buildings of County Clare
Historic Buildings of County Cork
Historic Buildings of County Donegal
Historic Buildings of County Dublin
Historic Buildings of County Galway
Historic Buildings of County Kerry
Historic Buildings of County Kildare
Historic Buildings of Co. Kilkenny
Historic Buildings of Co. Kilkenny C - F
Historic Buildings of County Laois
Historic Buildings of County Leitrim
Historic Buildings of County Limerick
Historic Buildings of County Longford
Historic Buildings of County Louth
Historic Buildings of County Mayo
Historic Buildings of County Meath
Historic Buildings of County Monaghan
Historic Buildings of County Offaly
Historic Buildings of County Roscommon
Historic Buildings of County Sligo
Historic Buildings of County Tipperary
Historic Buildings of County Waterford
Historic Buildings of County Westmeath
Historic Buildings of County Wexford
Historic Buildings of County Wicklow
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