Knocktopher

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Knocktopher is a small village in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It sits on the R713 road, between Stoneyford to the north and Ballyhale to the south, and it was once on the N10 before the M9 bypassed it. The village is a civil parish in the Knocktopher barony and today has two pubs, two shops, a petrol station, a three-star hotel, a restaurant, and a glass gallery.

Nearby landmarks include an ogham stone about a mile south, known as the Ballyboodan Ogham Stone, and Sheepstown Church a mile to the west.

Historically, a Carmelites monastery was built in 1356 by James Butler, the 2nd Earl of Ormond. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1542, the lands passed to the Barnewall family, and the Carmelites returned in 1735 and remain there. The Barony of Knocktopher was created after the Norman invasion. The Langrishe family owned Knocktopher Abbey for about 300 years, making them the village’s most famous residents. The Langrishe line included several baronets, with notable public life in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1904, a planned visit by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra to Knocktopher Abbey famously did not happen due to a prank.

Sports are an important part of Knocktopher. The Langrishe family helped found Knocktopher GAA and its hurling connections later merged with Ballyhale Shamrocks and Knockmoylan in 1972. Ballyhale Shamrocks have since won multiple All-Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championships. Knocktopher-born players have also won All-Ireland hurling medals with Kilkenny, including Frank Cummins and Denis Heaslip, as well as Sean Farrell. In football, Knocktopher teams won Kilkenny’s Senior Football Championship in the early 1900s, and in 1911 Kilkenny won the Leinster Senior Football Championship.

Knocktopher hosted the National Ploughing Championships in 1978. The village has a modest transport link: Bus Éireann route 365 serves the village on Thursdays, while Ballyhale, about 2 km away, has more frequent services to Dublin, Waterford, Kilkenny, Thomastown, and Athlone. Thomastown railway station is about 9 km away, and the village is easily reached from Junction 10 of the M9 motorway. The population was 166 people in 2016.