One of the most instantly recognized buildings in Ireland, Kilkenny Castle has been an important site since Strongbow constructed the first castle, probably a wooden structure, in the 12th century.
William the Earl Marshall built the first stone castle on the site, which was completed in 1213. This was a square-shaped castle with towers at each corner; three of these original four towers survive to this day. Superbly set above a crossing of the River Nore, this great Norman castle has undergone many alterations over the centuries. Parliament often met in the castle during the fourteenth century, which in 1307 comprised "a hall, four towers, a chapel, a motte, and other houses necessary to the castle". In 1391 it was sold to the Butlers, Earls of Ormonde, who after the Restoration of 1660 carried out a major rebuilding of the old castle, after it had been damaged in Cromwell's siege of 1650. Except for the classical-style gateway of 1703-06, the whole castle was again rebuilt during the 1820s in an uncompromisingly feudal-revival style by William Robert son for the first Marquess of Ormonde. In 1859-62 the picture gallery was remodeled and the castle given a number of Ruskinian features, notably a Gothic staircase. In 1935 the Ormondes ceased to live in the castle and presented it to the nation in 1967.