The Kytelers Inn was La Niña‘s pub so I let her write the story about Alice the Witch of Kilkenny. Read below and you’ll see why we consider the pub Niña’s Pub.
The Witch of Kilkenny
Alice, the daughter of a young banker, was accused of witchcraft. Alice was worthy to have four husbands that died mysteriously. She used her inheritance money to build a pub called Kytelers Inn. After a while people thought Alice was not a witch and believed that her enemies accused her but the entire thing was not useless because it was also thought Alice killed her four husbands.
In the meantime, Alice was sent to prison and managed to escape to London because she had powerful connections and friends there. However, Alice’s maid was sent to jail and burnt every day at dawn and was killed shortly after. Alice mysteriously disappeared and was never seen again. THE END
— La Niña, Age 8
During one of the best evenings of the trip, we attended an Irish music and dance event at Kytelers Inn in Kilkenny. This is one of the older pubs in Ireland, established in 1324 and is the focal point for much of the folklore surrounding Alice Kyteler. During the evening at the pub, little miss Niña (without any dance training) got up and showed everyone her “Irish dancing” in front of a pub packed with people (though technically it was more of a Métis jig than Irish dancing).
She was the life of the party. Everyone was laughing, clapping, and cheering her on. Afterwards, people came over to find out where she learned her “unique” style of dance. We told everyone it was Métis dance and left it at that. But, now we’re thinking we should probably put her into some sort of dance lessons because she has stage presence — but no training.
This was the more memorable moment of the whole Irish journey.
Yup! We loved Kilkenny and had a fab time at Kyteler’s Pub.