Kilkenny
Kilkenny (Irish: Cill Chainnigh) is the county seat of County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland. Located on the River Nore, it is the only city in Ireland which is not a county borough, and is the republic's only inland city. It is famous for its many mediæval buildings and night-life.
Kilkenny has been referred to as the Marble City for hundreds of years, but the black stone with decorative white fossils that forms the backbone of many of Kilkenny's fine buildings is actually polished limestone which has been quarried from around the city for centuries.
The city is dominated by Kilkenny Castle and Saint Canice's Cathedral. The latter is named for Saint Canice, who also gave his name to the town (Cill Chainnigh is Irish for "Church of Canice"). The Statute of Kilkenny (1366) was got its name from the then Irish Parliament in Kilkenny.
The town has a history of brewing and is home to St. Francis Abbey Brewery which was founded in the early 18th Century by messrs Cole and Smithwick. This brewery had been owned by the Guinness Ireland Group since the 1960's. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Guinness merged with Grand Metropolitan plc to form Diageo, the world's largest alcoholic beverage business, so the brewery is now a part of Diageo Global Supply, and Smithwick's Ale now forms only a small percentage of production there. Another product is the ale Kilkenny, a close relation of the ale Smithwicks. Kilkenny ale was originally created specifically for the export market to help those who found the word "Smithwicks" linguistically challenging but has since carved out a place for itself in the Irish beer market. Some 80% of beer produced at the brewery is Budweiser, a brand not owned by Diageo, but produced under licence.
Kilkenny is also home to the head offices and a factory of Glanbia. Glanbia is one of the world's top cheese and dairy companies. Glanbia was formed from the merging of two dairy businesses - Avonmore and Waterford foods. Glanbia has interests in Ireland, the UK and the USA, and employs a total of about 7,500 people.
Kilkenny has a successful hurling team, known as "The Cats". The Kilkenny team has won the All-Ireland championships in hurling numerous times, their most recent win being the 2003 championship, where they defeated rivals Cork.
