St. Mary’s Medieval Mile Museum — Attraction in The Municipal District of Kilkenny City

Kilkenny is one of the most important cities in norman and medieval Ireland. The museum is inside the site of a formerly derelict church that was the heart of the city at its height.

Because it was derelict, it has been possible to do archaeology there, and you can see hidden tombs where Catholic burials were hidden in an officially protestant church.

The history of the city is captured in documents which range from the granting of city charters through a bishop granting insufficient water rights for an Abbey to the letter from William of Orange proscribing the Catholic city government and orderimg a Protestant replacement.

Imagine my surprise when I find the little old guy who opened the doors turns into a magical tour guide. His timing is impeccable - who else gets twenty laughs in an hour while teaching history? There are even yarns about a bishop on a witch-hunt (the first in Europe that combined a charge of heresy with witchcraft for financial reasons.)

When you visit, ask if Pat is...

I cannot recommend this museum enough, with one huge, important caveat: take the guided tour. The museum itself is not huge, limited to the site of the church that has occupied the space since the 13th century. There are artifacts throughout, and the admission fee lets you see them (and several audio visual presentations).

The guided tour makes it come to life. Our tour guide, Pat, was incredibly knowledgeable and, more importantly, told a great story. The tour was not a recitation of facts - as many tours can be - but rather a walk through the history of Kilkenny as illustrated by the church and the relics and artifacts within it. If you are interested in history at all (and you probably are, since you're visiting medieval Kilkenny), you should get the tour here. It was one of the highlights of our trip and I cannot rate it and our tour guide Pat highly...

My 8 year old son and I visited this museum while we were on a tour that stopped in Kilkenny. Our tour only allowed for 2 hours in Kilkenny so this was the perfect spot to visit. It’s not terribly large but was extremely interesting and well done. They also had a Lego scavenger hunt in which they gave clues based on the historic items presented in the museum. This made the museum super fun for my son (and myself to be honest). He learned a lot but in a way that’s appropriate and interesting to a child. They also had an audio device they gave my son that he could point at various spots to hear about what was being shown in that section of the museum. Again making it easier for him than having to read through all of the historical information. If you have kids definitely stop here if you’re...