Come visit Ireland’s best-preserved, late-medieval Merchant House.
Located in the heart of Kilkenny on Ireland’s Medieval Mile, Rothe House & Garden was built between 1594 and 1610. This was once the home and place of business of John Rothe and Rose Archer, one of Kilkenny’s wealthiest, most influential merchant families. The three-storied houses are connected by cobbled courtyards, expansive enough for a family that grew to have eleven children, as well as the house & garden staff that would have been necessary to run such an important household.
Today, you can explore this one-of-a-kind house, a symbol of the status and importance that the city of Kilkenny had in the early 1600s. Through the houses and across the cobbled courtyards, there is a dramatic rise to a magnificently restored garden that reaches back to the original city wall.
You can buy your tickets at reception. For group bookings, email visitorexperience@rothehouse.com or call 056-7722893.
The garden at Rothe House is a faithful recreation of the Rothe family garden as it would have appeared in the early 17th century. Rothe House garden is now the only urban garden of this period which is open to the public.
From period furniture, paintings and costumes to antiquaries, books and papers, Rothe House is home to the collection of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society. Various items from this collection are on display throughout the house and the exhibits are rotated regularly.
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