Kilkenny

The Capuchin Friars first arrived in Kilkenny in 1643 after their house in Mullingar had been burned down. On their arrival they stayed in a rented house near St. Caince’s Cathedral. The Bishop of Ossory, Dr David Rothe, subsequently gave them charge of one of the chapels in the cathedral. The Capuchins withdrew from Kilkenny in the mid-eighteenth century but a community was reinstated there in the 1770s. The Capuchins established a Friary in an alms house known as ‘The Poor House Chapel’ on Walkin Street (later called Friary Street). The site of the ‘Poor House’ is covered by a wing of the Friary which runs at right angles along Walkin Street towards Pennyfeather Lane. In 1848 the present Friary Church was built on the site.