BY JOHN FITZGERALD
Before the band struck up in the City, and as choirs rehearsed their renditions of” Hail Glorious St. Patrick”, the dedicated Kilkenny Heritage Walkers were setting out on their by now almost traditional tour of St Patrick’s Parish, which contains a wealth of historic and architectural gems.
Guided by Paddy Neary, a man likened to the schoolmaster in Goldsmith’s Deserted Village, owing to his astounding grasp of local history and antiquities, the walkers visited or revisited those pillars of the past that stand proudly in that part of the Old Medieval City.
They started with Butler House, the stately 18th century edifice built by Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde. The ghosts of the lords and ladies that once dwelt therein must have smiled ethereally when they heard Paddy’s nimble tribute. He eulogized that Jewel in the Crown of Kilkenny which once housed the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland.
Its present incarnation as a four-star hotel and conference centre doesn’t detract in the slightest from its former hallowed status. The east side of the house faces into the lovely walled garden that backs onto the Castle Yard.
St Patrick’s Church had an inviting glow, or maybe it just looked or felt that way because of the weekend that was in it. A late Gothic Revival church with a transept that was once used by nuns from an adjacent convent, it has played host to the faithful of the district since its construction in the 1890s. Paddy enlightened the walkers on the provenance of statues and sacred vessels inside. He spoke in reverential lower tones as the group beheld a familiar and much-loved milieu through the retrospective lens of history.
Further along the route through the parish, the gates of the ancient graveyard bearing the patron saint’s name swung open to the walkers. The site, with its high walls, is renowned for the quality of its stone masonry and the attractive designs on the markers.
Undaunted by a persistent light drizzle and an overcast sky the group trod upon the soft sward of the sacred burial ground, exchanging memories and anecdotes about those whose mortal remains rest beneath the soil. Paddy expounded on the archaeological significance of the stonework, paying homage to people whose souls have long since departed this Vale of Tears.
Billy Dunne read an evocative poem at the graveside of a local patriot, which drew lively applause. The composition honoured those who died for Ireland, as well as the men who fell in foreign fields during the Great War.
One grave bears the inscription: “Erected to the memory of John Haltigan by the Nationalists of Kilkenny 94 who have known him to make a lifelong struggle for Ireland’s freedom for which crime British law, aided by the Informer, Nagle, consigned him to a living tomb where the fiendish torture of years shattered his vigorous form but failed to subdue his noble spirit.”
Canice Ryan and Marianne Kelly shed further light on the remarkable stories of people whose life- journeys ended at St Patrick’s
On a sombre note, Paddy Neary recalled that on the site of St Patrick’s cemetery once stood a church of the same name, upon which, in 1650, Cromwell positioned his cannons to attack Kilkenny Castle, of which he’d have had an excellent view from that spot.
Standing there in the cold; wet grass, with the sound of traffic wafting in from the streets, it was hard to imagine the ferocious bombardment… the terror that must have gripped the City back then.
Apart from the prominent historic building and landmarks the walk took in a range of lesser-known curios, including a beautifully preserved holy water font from the original St Patrick’s church. This is now located in a private garden within the parish.
The walkers disbanded and went their separate ways, having agreed upon their next foray into the past.
Anyone can join the walks, which usually set off at 11 am on Saturday from the Horse Box on the Parade.
