Cill Chainnigh/ Kilkenny, land of witches, saints and ancients

Cill Chainnigh/ Kilkenny, land of witches, saints and ancients

A very un-Spring like day saw us heading down Kilkenny direction in search of ancient and Medieval historical sites. With a biting wind and some torrential showers, we took the more scenic route rather than the motorway, and there were enough bright sunny spells in between, to allow us to enjoy the landscape.

Our short stay in the Medieval city of Kilkenny allowed us a visit to St. Mary’s Medieval mile museum and a stroll past Kyteler’s Inn on the way back to the car park. We didn’t get to see the castle this time, but hopefully that’s for another day.

Kilkenny definitely has the air of the middle ages, with more modern times superimposed on narrow streets and alleys. The city itself is called after Saint Canice, or Cainneach and the name Cill Chainnigh means the church of Cainneach. This saint was a 6th century clergyman, the son of a Gaelic bard who was born near Dungiven in Northern Ireland. Unlike his father, Cainneach chose a religious vocation, studying in Clonard where he met another famous saint “to be”, Columcille or Columba. He also studied in Clonmacnoise, Glasnevin and Wales and founded a church near St. Andrews in Scotland, a place where he has become known as Kenneth. Later, on return to Ireland, he was given land in Aghaboe where he set up a church which was to become the Bishop’s See. This centre of ecclesiastic power was moved to what was to become Kilkenny, and where Cainneach set up a church near the now Church of Ireland Cathedral of St. Canice. It is also said that he brought a Christian army to fight the last real stronghold of Druids settled in this area.

Kilkenny of course, is also known for its famous witch trial, involving a woman named Alice Kyteler. Her house, now a restaurant/pub, dates from the 14th century. This story also connects to the very large Kells priory, a few miles away. Kells priory, not to be confused with Kells in County Meath, was founded by Geoffrey Fitzrobert in 1193 who was a brother-in-law of the infamous Strongbow. We visited this former Augustinian priory on our way home and it was well worth the stop. The site is sprawling, with huge walls, peppered with watch towers and numerous slit windows, for the shooting of arrows. Indeed, the whole structure is a testament to its turbulent history as it was constantly under attack. In 1324 a certain Bishop of Ossory, Richard de Ladrede, held a synod here and then went on to accuse Alice Kyteler of heresy and witchcraft.

Alice Kyteler was the daughter of Flemish parents, merchants who settled in Kilkenny. Her first husband, William Outlawe was a money lender and they had a son of the same name who became a powerful Mayor of the city. Outlawe died in mysterious circumstances and for a time, questions were asked and fingers pointed in the direction of her and her second husband, Adam Blund. Adam too, died and she married for a third time to a wealthy landowner, Richard de Valle who also passed away. When she became embroiled legally with his sons (her step sons) over her Widow’s Dower, more suspicions arose. Ledrede was determined to catch her in the act of witchcraft but her fourth husband, John le Paor, backed her and had the bishop thrown in jail, but only for a short time. When he was released Ledrede continued his campaign to try Kyteler as a witch. Her son William and maidservant, were arrested. Her maid, Petronella de Meath, was tortured and gave a confession. While Kyteler escaped to England, never to be heard from again, and her son spent little time in prison, poor Petronella was burnt at the stake, thus becoming the only true incidence of a definite burning of a witch in Irish history.

St. Mary’s Medieval Mile museum is definitely a place to visit, with amazing replicas of High Crosses and an insight to the world of Kilkenny in the middle ages and of course it would have been a bonus to get to the castle itself but we just didn’t have the time.

Another abbey we visited was the famous Jerpoint Abbey at Thomastown. It is a fine example of a 12th century Cistercian abbey, with a cloistered walk where we can still see the carved detail on the arches. Unfortunately we only had a quick look around as it was closing but enough time to feel that this place was one of importance. We also managed to take a trip to another small church at Aghaviller which comes from the Irish Ath an bhiolair (the ford of the watercress) with a fine stone roof and the remains of a Round Tower alongside.

One of the highlights of the day, however, was the dolmen or portal tomb at Kilmogue in southern Kilkenny. It is an absolute giant of a monument, with the capstone reaching over 4 metres and each portal stone over 3.7 metres. It is accessed easily, by a grassy lane in lovely rolling countryside and is well signposted. It is also known as Harristown dolmen, though the name of the monument itself is generally “Leac an Scail” or the hero’s stone (flagstone). Leac in Irish is a flat stone, like a pavement and Scal means burst. How it comes to be associated with warrior or hero is perhaps through its connection with the Fianna, the mythological warriors of Fionn MacCumhall. In my thinking, I believe that the word Scal may refer to the “burst” of energy, strength or power of a legendary hero.

Interesting, I have also seen it spelled as “Leac an Scáil”, which is completely different as the ScÁil would render the meaning as the stone of the phantom. This could be just a mistake by adding the “fada” which then changes the translation, as by all accounts it is more associated with a hero than a phantom. Of course, these are much later stories as the monument itself dates from much older period, that of Neolithic times, and somewhere in the region of 5000 years old.

The townland of Kilmogue is interesting too as it comes from the Irish Cill Mhóg, the church of Mog. This is likely to be Mog of Mog Ruith (Slave of the Wheel) a mysterious, powerful druid who was said to have a magical wheel in which he could travel across the globe. Dressed in deer skin and a bird mask, he also had a jewelled chariot and a black, star lit shield. His time period varied anywhere from very ancient times, to being present in Biblical Jerusalem to living in the time of High King Cormac Mac Art. His power and might he appears to have passed to his daughter, the Goddess Tlachtga, associated with lightning and with the Hill of Tlachtga, now the hill of Ward where it is said Samhain began.

So all in all a really enjoyable busy day and there is so, so much more to see in Kilkenny, definitely a place to return to sometime.

Contact Details

Margaret McKenna
Carrick Eighter, Virginia, Co. Cavan, Ireland
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Art to me, is storytelling a means to visually capture the atmosphere and tell the tales behind our landscape or capture the essence of that person’s character.

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