Designed landscape - summer house

The National Monuments Service's description

Located c. 70m NE of the NE wing of Kilkenny Castle (KK019-026078-) in an area presently under woodland. In 1680 the first Duke of Ormond had an elaborate waterhouse and banqueting hall constructed adjoining the bowling green (KK019-026079-) of the castle. It had been removed by the time of Rocque's 1758 survey. Dineley, writing in 1681 described it as follows: ‘…Bowling green, Gardens Walks Orchards & a delightfull Waterhouse adjoining to the B Green, which with an Engine of curious artifice by the help of one horse furnisheth all the Offices of the Castle with that necessary Element. This Waterhouse hath a pleasant summer banquetting room, floor’d and lin’d with white & black marble which abounds here, with a painted skye roof wth Angells, in this is seen a fountaine of black marble in the shape of a large cup, with a ject d’eau or throw of water in the middle ariseing, mounts into the hollow of a Ducall Crown, which but hangs over it, and descends again at severall droping places round this I have touch’d off on the other side the following leaf’ (Dineley 1681, 202; see Costello 2016, 146-7). The manuscripts of the Marquess of Ormond record that construction of the waterhouse included the following, 'On Monday and Tuesday next the marble piers by the grotto will be got up, which could not be carried through the bowling green until the dry weather came in. I believe the like were not seen in this kingdom heretofore' (Falkiner 1908, vol. 5, 292). The waterhouse is clearly depicted as an elaborate circular turret topped off with a statue on a 1681 view by Thomas Dineley and on the 1699 Francis Place and 1708 Henry Pratt views. (Ó Drisceoil 2020, unpublished).

Compiled by: Cóilín Ó Drisceoil

Date of upload: 11 November 2020

References

Dineley, C., 1681 Observations in a voyage through the kingdom of Ireland. National Library of Ireland MS 392.

Costello, V. 2016 Irish demesne landscapes 1660-1740. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

Falkiner, C.L. (ed.) 1908 Calendar of the manuscripts of the Marquess of Ormonde, K. P., preserved at Kilkenny castle, vol. 5. London. Historical Manuscripts Commission.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2020 Archaeological assessment: proposed landscaping works and accessibility ramp, The Castle Yard, Kilkenny Castle (RMP KK019-026078-), Kilkenny City. Unpublished report. Kilkenny Archaeology.