Jenkinstown Park
The forested park is a nice place for a walk or a picnic; it's muddy after wet weather and the deer expect to be fed. In April the forest is carpeted by bluebells. It was laid out in the 1870s as the grounds of the Bryan-Bellew Estate, and some original trees survive. Most of the castle has been demolished, but a few scraps remain, with some remnants incorporated into a modern mansion. Thomas Moore (1779-1852) wrote the poem The Last Rose of Summer while staying at Jenkinstown House in 1805. This was the forerunner of a wave of traditional Irish melodies given English lyrics, as popular as it was maudlin, with dozens of settings, literary references and translations. Japanese schoolchildren dutifully learned it as Niwa-no-Chigusa (庭の千草), "The Plants in the Garden".
- Getting there
- 10 km north of Kilkenny, enter via N78 or N77
- Hours
- Car park daily 9:30AM-5PM
- Price
- Free
Listing from Wikivoyage: Kilkenny, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Updated 28 Sept 2026. Something wrong? Tell us.