Ireland Guide
Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford
St Canice's Cathedral
Address: Above the Nore
Website: www.stcanicescathedral.ie
Opening time: April, May & Sept Mon– Sat 10am–1pm & 2–5pm, Sun 2–5pm; June– Aug Mon– Sat 9am–6pm, Sun 2–6pm; Oct– March Mon– Sat 10am–1pm & 2–4pm, Sun 2–4pm
Price: €4, Round Tower €3, combined ticket with cathedral €6
Kilkenny's Church of Ireland cathedral, thirteenth-century St Canice's, looms above Irishtown. Though its spire collapsed in 1332, the rest of this grand Gothic structure remains true to its date of origin. The magnificently carved interior contains many splendid sixteenth- and seventeenth-century tombstones, often cut from black Kilkenny marble, including some remarkable effigies of the Butler family, as well as a more modern construction – a scale model showing the city's layout in 1640. In the churchyard stands a graceful, ninth-century Round Tower, the only vestige of St Canice's monastic settlement, whose reward for climbing its 160 steps is a superb vista of the city spread out below.