County Kilkenny  
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Basic Ingredients

Co. Kilkenny Civil Parishes Map
Co. Kilkenny Roman Catholic Parishes Map

Co. Kilkenny GENUKI
Co. Kilkenny IGP

Rothe House Trust Ltd (RootsIreland)
Kilkenny Local Studies and Genealogical Services 

Special Ingredients - Record Finding Aids

Co. Kilkenny Church of Ireland Parish Records Finder
Co. & City of Kilkenny Registry of Deeds Townland Indexes Timelines

Picture
Rothes House, Kilkenny - local IFHF centre
Chef's Recommendations

I visited Kilkenny on my ancestral travels a few years ago and discovered a couple of things that I will share with you so that you might temper your expectations should you visit too;
  • The gravestones in St. Canice's Cathedral are now mostly indecipherable.  There is a reference guide kept behind the counter inside that if you give them the family name you are interested in, they can tell you if there were any graves of that name and the general area of the graveyard they were in, but that's all.  Anyone know of any transcripts?
  • St. Mary's church has been completely renovated and turned into the Millennium Mile Museum so the interiors will bear little resemblance to those gazed upon by your ancestors as they gathered around the font/altar/coffin.
  • The Kilkenny Local Studies Library has been relocated to what can only be described as a fairly bleak location for doing research. It is now a windowless, airless and fairly untidy room in the Housing Dept. building.  There is no catalogue as such - the day I visited I was asked pretty brusquely what it was I wanted, so do your own homework first as much as as you can from their Genealogy page!  Also, be prepared for the room to be closed at short notice because of staff shortages.

Mary Castelyn, a long-time member of the Irish Genealogical Research Society publishes a wonderfully rich blog of Kilkenny graveyards which has photos and transcriptions galore, so do check this out if you are "dead diving" in this county.

The Royal Irish Academy's Historic Towns Atlas has an edition for the City of Kilkenny.  Explore the history and enjoy the maps.