Johnstown (), historically known as Coorthafooka ( gle, Cúirt an Phúca), is a small town in

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Bypassed in December 2008 by the M8, the town lies at the junction of the

R639 The R639 road is one of Ireland's regional roads. Once designated the N8 national primary road (and before that some fractions were designated as the T6 and others as the T9), it was reclassified in stages as the R639 following the progress ...

, the R502 and the R435 regional roads. It is the home of the Fenians GAA

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

club. Situated from Dublin and from Cork, it lies in the agricultural heartland of the southeast. The village of Johnstown was once part of the barony of Galmoy and was laid out in the early 1700s by the Hely family of Foulkscourt Castle. The Hely family were descended from Sir John Hely (died 1701),

Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas The chief justice of the Common Pleas for Ireland was the presiding judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, which was known in its early years as the Court of Common Bench, or simply as "the Bench", or "the Dublin bench". It was one of the s ...

Public transport

Route 828 operated by M & A Coaches on behalf of the National Transport Authority provides a daily journey each way to/from

Cullohill Cullahill or Cullohill () is a small village situated on the R639 road in County Laois, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Cullahill takes its name from an ancient forest that covered Cullahill Mountain and extended down to Cullahill Castle. Histor ...

, Durrow (Laois),

Abbeyleix Abbeyleix (; ) is a town in County Laois, Ireland, located around south of the county town of Portlaoise. Abbeyleix was formerly located on the N8, the main road from Dublin to Cork. At one point, up to 15,000 vehicles passed along the town' ...

and

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Ireland. It is located in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. The 2016 census shows that the town's population increased by 9.5% to 22,050 ...

. There is no Sunday service.

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

's ''Expressway'' service between

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

ceased to serve Johnstown on 30 June 2012.

Places of interest

Ballyspellan Spa Well is a nearby

mineral spa Mineral spas are destination spa, spa resorts developed around naturally occurring mineral springs. Like seaside resorts, they are mainly used recreationally although they also figured prominently in traditional medicine, prescientific medicine. ...

which was visited by

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

in 1728. A poem praising its medicinal qualities was penned by

Thomas Sheridan Thomas Sheridan may refer to: *Thomas Sheridan (divine) (1687–1738), Anglican divine *Thomas Sheridan (actor) (1719–1788), Irish actor and teacher of elocution *Thomas Sheridan (soldier) (1775–1817/18) *Thomas B. Sheridan (born 1931), America ...

and a retort was produced by Swift. In 1806, a

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Ger ...

brooch was found in Ballyspellan and is now on display in the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...

Grangefertagh Grangefertagh is a former abbey located in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is today a National Monument. Location Grangefertagh is located about north of Johnstown, County Kilkenny, near a crossing-point on the River Goul. History Grangefe ...

is a 6th Century

Round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fu ...

situated northeast of the village. It is associated with St Ciarán of Saigir and was attacked by the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

s in 865. Foulkscourt Castle, is a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

-era

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

northwest of the village.

People

* J.J Delaney, hurler * Pat Delaney, hurler * P.J. Delaney, hurler *

Billy Fitzpatrick Billy Fitzpatrick (born 6 April 1954 in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Ireland) is an Irish former sportsperson.() He played hurling with his local club the Fenians and was a member of the Kilkenny senior inter-county team from 1974 until 198 ...

, hurler * Sir John Hely, judge and landowner *

Ger Henderson Ger Henderson (born 5 May 1954) is a former Irish sportsperson. He played hurling with the Kilkenny senior inter-county team in the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Ger Henderson was born in Johnstown, County Kilkenny in 1954. He was educated loc ...

, hurler * John Henderson, hurler and inter-county manager *

Pat Henderson Pat Henderson (born 30 January 1943) is an Irish retired hurling manager and former player. Born in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Henderson first played competitive hurling during his schooling at Thurles CBS. He arrived on the inter-county s ...

, hurler and inter-county manager *

Ethel Colburn Mayne Ethel Colburn Mayne (7 January 1865 – 30 April 1941) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, biographer, literary critic, journalist and translator. Life She was born in Johnstown in County Kilkenny in 1865, to Charlotte Emily Henrietta Ma ...

, writer *

Nicky Orr Nicholas "Nicky" Orr (born 23 February 1947) is an Irish retired hurler whose league and championship career with the Kilkenny senior team spanned nine seasons from 1969 to 1976. Born near Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Orr first played comp ...

, hurler *

P.J. Ryan Patrick Joseph "P. J." Ryan (born 15 June 1977) is an Irish hurling, hurler who played as a goalkeeper for the Kilkenny GAA, Kilkenny senior team. Born in Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Johnstown, County Kilkenny, Ryan first played competitive hu ...

, hurler *

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him f ...

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Paralympic athlete The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer and Winter Paralympic Games. As of 2020, the Summer Paralympics included 22 sports and 539 medal events, and the Winter Paralympics include 5 sports and disciplines and about ...

References

External links

Fertagh ParishEdward Law - Kilkenny History - Miscellaneous Houses
{{County Kilkenny Towns and villages in County Kilkenny Census towns in County Kilkenny

Public transport

Places of interest

People

See also

Further reading

References

External links