The Maudlin Castle.

It is not generally known when the first Leper hospital was established in Maudlin Street but it was probably post 1200. At least three separate tower-houses may have been built in this area by William Marshall. During this period the street housed a large number of barns used to store grain. The towers and walls protected these.

Maudlin Tower

Frony view of the Muadlin Tower, Maudlin Street, Kilkenny

Declan Macauley, used with permission

Maudlin Tower
Declan Macauley, used with permission

Maudlin Tower

Frony view of the Muadlin Tower, Maudlin Street, Kilkenny

Declan Macauley, used with permission

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Maudlin Tower (side view)

Side view of the Maudlin Tower, Maudlin Street, Kilkenny City

Maudlin Tower (side view)

Maudlin Tower (side view)

Side view of the Maudlin Tower, Maudlin Street, Kilkenny City

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The name 'Maudlin' or 'Magdalen' was associated with spittle hospitals built to house lazars or lepers. Lepers were traditionally associated with Mary Magdalen. There is evidence that a hospital operated in the area from 1327. These hospitals had a long association with St. John's Priory.

The current tower probably dates post 1500 and formed part of the Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen. It is mentioned in Corporation leases from 1598 where some of it was set aside for Lepers. It was later granted to Kilkenny Corporation by Charles 1. There is some evidence that stone-arched gate was attched to the tower on the south face. It appears on a painting in 1760, only gaps in the existing stone-work attest to its existence now.

The surviving structure is 25M high. The towerhouse has four storeys with a stair turret continuing up to the battlements. The base has a pronounced width relative to the rest of the structure.