Today’s TY Local History walk brought students to the Butts, where a weathered stone plaque marks the former site of St Canice’s R.C. Widows’ Asylum (1864). Founded by Very Rev. John Gorman P.P., the asylum once provided shelter for poor widows of the parish – a group often left destitute in that era. Catholic-run, it reflects the post-Emancipation period, when the Church built institutions for its flock, before the state assumed responsibility for social welfare. Though the building is long gone, the plaque stands as a quiet reminder of compassion, charity and community spirit woven into Kilkenny’s past.
Nearby, students spotted a plain round iron anchor plate embedded in an old stone wall – an unassuming piece of 19th-century building technology. These plates were part of tie-rod systems used to brace masonry structures against collapse. This small iron disk, known as a pattress plate, is a striking example of Kilkenny’s overlooked material heritage – the quiet craft behind the walls that have endured.
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