The Tholsel (), also known as the Town Hall, is a municipal building in the High Street,

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the City status in Ir ...

, Ireland. It served as the meeting place by Kilkenny Borough Council until the council was abolished in 2014. The Municipal District of Kilkenny City, the Borough Council's successor within Kilkenny County Council, meets at County Hall.

History

The first tholsel, or guildhall, in the High Street may have dated back to the 14th century. It was the likely location of the execution of Petronilla de Meath, a woman who was tried and found guilty, after torture, of

heresy Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy. Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...

, and then flogged and burnt at the stake on 3 November 1324. It was used for the collection of tolls and other administrative functions for the town but fell into disuse in the late 15th century. A second tholsel, designed in the

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

, was erected in the High Street in 1579. By the mid-18th century, the earlier tholsel had become dilapidated and the borough council, led by Alderman William Colles, decided to commission a new building on the same site. The new building was designed in the

neoclassical style Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiquity. Neoclassici ...

, built in

rubble masonry Rubble masonry or rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Some medieval cathedral walls have outer shells of ashlar wi ...

at a cost of £1,315 and was completed in 1761. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage of five bays facing west onto the High Street. It was arcaded on the ground floor, so that markets could be held, with an assembly room on the first floor. The arcading was formed by

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s which were supported by piers at the corners, and by

Doric order The Doric order is one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of t ...

columns between the bays. On the first floor, the building was fenestrated by square headed

casement window A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges at the side. They are used singly or in pairs within a common frame, in which case they are hinged on the outside. Casement windows are often held open using a c ...

s with Gibbs surrounds. At roof level, there was a three-stage

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

with round headed windows in the first stage, clock faces in the second stage and louvres in the third stage, surmounted by a

weather vane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , m ...

. Internally, the principal room was the assembly room on the first floor, which featured a plasterwork

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

to the ceiling. The

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

visited the building soon after it was completed and preached to a small audience in July 1762. The

Irish republican Irish republicanism () is the political movement for an Irish republic, void of any British rule. Throughout its centuries of existence, it has encompassed various tactics and identities, simultaneously elective and militant and has been both w ...

and

leader of Fianna Fáil The leader of Fianna Fáil is the most senior politician within the Fianna Fáil political party in Ireland. Since 2011 Fianna Fáil leadership election, 26 January 2011, the office has been held by Micheál Martin, following the resignation of ...

political party,

Éamon de Valera Éamon de Valera (; ; first registered as George de Valero; changed some time before 1901 to Edward de Valera; 14 October 1882 – 29 August 1975) was an American-born Irish statesman and political leader. He served as the 3rd President of Ire ...

, gave a speech in the town hall on his party's economic and financial policy in March 1929. On 20 September 1985, the Tholsel was gutted by fire. That evening, fireman Joe Stapleton was completing his duties as the Town Sergeant when he discovered a fire on the upper floor of the building. He called the fire service, opened the main gates for the fire tenders and took the 17th-century charters of the city to safety. It took 35 firemen and six fire engines to fight this fire, which was started by a small electrical fault. The building was subsequently restored and re-opened to the public in February 1987. The assembly room continued to serve as the council chamber of Kilkenny Borough Council, until the council was dissolved and administration of the town was amalgamated with Kilkenny County Council in 2014. Important documents held in the Tholsel include The Primus Kilkenniensis, or First Book of Kilkenny, printed in the late 14th century, which incorporates the charter given to the people of Kilkenny by

William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke (1146 or 1147 – 14 May 1219), also called William the Marshal (Anglo-Norman language, Norman French: ', French language, French: '), was an Anglo-Normans, Anglo-Norman soldier and statesman during High Med ...

in the early 13th century.

History

References

Further reading