Johnstown (), historically known as Coorthafooka (), is a small town in

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 Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. Bypassed in December 2008 by the M8, the town lies at the junction of the R639, the R502 and the R435 regional roads. It is the home of the

Fenians GAA Fenians Johnstown is an Irish Gaelic Athletic Association club in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Hurling is the dominant sport in the club, which has provided the Kilkenny intercounty team with several top players. The club has also found success at ...

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

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 Galmoy () is a Barony (Ireland), barony in the north western part of County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is one of 12 baronies in County Kilkenny. The size of the barony is . There are 12 Civil parishes in Ireland, civil paris ...

and was laid out in the early 1700s by the Hely family of Foulkscourt Castle. The Hely family were descended from Sir

John Hely Sir John Hely (born c. 1650 – died 7 April 1701) was an English-born judge in Ireland, who held office as Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, and who was the founder of the prominent landowning Hely family of Foulkscourt Castle, Johnstown, Count ...

(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 ...

Public transport

TFI Local link operated by JJ Kavanagh and Sons provides a daily journey each way from Portlaoise to Cashel 828 and Thurles 858.

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

and Aircoach service between

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

ceased to serve Johnstown on 30 June 2012.

Places of interest

Ballyspellan Spa Well is a nearby

mineral spa Mineral spas are spa resorts developed around naturally occurring mineral springs. Like seaside resorts, they are mainly used recreationally although they also figured prominently in prescientific medicine. Origins Spas were used for mille ...

which was visited by

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...

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 (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

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

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland () 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 three branches in Dublin, the arch ...

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 Grangefer ...

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 defensive walls such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls. Castle ...

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

Viking Vikings were 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 settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

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 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

-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, to command and defend strategic points ...

northwest of the village.

People

* J.J Delaney, hurler * Pat Delaney, hurler * P.J. Delaney, hurler * Billy Fitzpatrick, hurler * Sir John Hely, judge and landowner * Ger Henderson, hurler * John Henderson, hurler and inter-county manager * Pat Henderson, hurler and inter-county manager * Ethel Colburn Mayne, writer * Nicky Orr, hurler * P.J. Ryan, 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 male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

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 Southeas ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Paralympic athlete The Paralympic sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer Paralympic Games, 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 a ...

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