Kilkenny

A medieval city in miniature, still walkable between castle and cathedral along the Nore. The Butlers of Ormond held the castle for five hundred years. From 1642 to 1649 Kilkenny was effectively the capital of an independent Catholic Ireland: the Confederation sat here with its own parliament, mint and ambassadors from Rome, Spain and France.

• Dunmore Cave · Where the annals say Vikings massacred a thousand people in 928. Bones of women and children were found inside in 1973 — and a Viking silver hoard in 1999.
• Kells Priory · Three acres walled and studded with tower houses, which is why it is known locally as the Seven Castles — it looks less like a priory than a fortress. Founded about 1193, and burned three times in its first 150 years, once by Edward Bruce’s army on Palm Sunday 1316.

All of these are pinned on the Hidden Ireland map.