Rothe House: Owners, Leases and Tenants
By Michael O'Dwyer

The Rothe family were owners of their mansion for a comparatively short period of about 100 years. The first house was built in 1594 and the third house was completed about 1610.

In the Civil Survey of Kilkenny City the owner of Rothe House was Peirce Rothe. The description is given on the following extract taken from the Civil Survey of 1654.

When the Rothes lost possession the Duke of Ormonde became owner of this property as well as of most of Kilkenny city. On 29 January 1701 the Rothe's mansion was demised to Abel Butler for lives renewable for ever. (This lease was later converted into a fee farm grant. Effectively the Butler family became owners).

In 1727 there was a lease of the property from Thomas Butler of the City of Kilkenny to William Johnson of Finglas, Co. Dublin for a sum of £200. The lease included:

all those the large stone house slated with the back yard and stone house at the further end of the second court yard with another house on each side of the way going into the garden with a garden and orchard to the town wall at the end where is a stone house slated with a kiln in the inner house formerly possessed by Lucas Archer which said premises were demised by the late Duke of Ormonde for a term of years to Rebecca Butler, the said Thomas Butler's mother and siesed by her to the said Thomas Butler and are situated in the North Quarter of the City of Kilkenny subject to a clause of redemption on payment of £200 in six months next.

(It is unlikely that William Johnson came to live in Kilkenny).

On 15 March 1811 Mary Butler of Pottlerath, widow, leased the property to Andrew Wolfe of the City of Kilkenny, schoolmaster. The lease stated that Mary Butler did:

demise, grant and set all that and those the dwelling house wherein Mr. Buchanan, schoolmaster hath lately resided together with the stable and the use of the yard at the rere in as large and ample a manner as the said Mr. Buchanan formerly held and enjoyed the same premises lying and being at the coalmarket to hold unto the said Andrew Wolfe for a term of 19 years.

The rent was £10 sterling and was payable on 29 September and 25 March. (About 1720 the name Coalmarket replaced the name North Quarter in leases).

In the novel Father Connell by the O'Hara family, published in 1842, there is a description of Rothe House by John Banim. In Chapter 12 Banim writes of it:

Jammed in between two mere modem houses with shop windows, there was in it a curious old structure, or rather a succession of very curious old structures, situated to the rear of this introductory one ... a semi-circular archway, gained by a few steps, ran through it from the street and led into a small quadrangle, one side of which was formed by its own back, and the other three sides by similar old buildings; that side to your left being partially dilapidated.

There is a detailed description of the rest of the property including:

the old house confronting you, as you entered the first quadrangle from the street, and the rear of which looked into the second quadrangle, was the old schoolhouse ... the principal of this celebrated seminary wrote himself down in full, and in a precise round hand, James Charles Buchmahon and his establishment as the English Academy.

This teacher was the Mr. Buchanan referred to in the above lease. The name of the teacher who succeeded Mr. Buchanan is commemorated in the name Wolfe's Arch.

The Willoughby family replaced the Butler family. In a marriage settlement of 1843 between William Willoughby and Susanna Preston, daughter of Richard Preston, it was stated that:

Anne and William Willoughby of Green's Hill, Kilkenny were seised of the premises and possessed of the household premises at Wolfe's Arch for a yearly rent to the Duke of Ormonde of £9 4s.7d. For a marriage portion of £100 to William Willoughby, Anne Willoughby agreed to assign all her interest in the said premises to the said Richard Preston in trust for the said William Willoughby and Susanna Preston.

(The witness to the marriage agreement was Griffith Westerman of Kilkenny, a tailor. In the Ormonde rent book for 1830 it states that part of the front house is now occupied by Esther Westerman who pays the rent). Richard Preston was a teacher and had a school in King Street. He repaired the chimneys in Rothe House at his own expense. Richard Preston was also tenant of a number of houses in New Building Lane, Green Street and Poyntz's Lane.

In a lease dated 20 July 1896 John Willoughby of Patrick Street, watchmaker, John and William Willoughby of Manitoba, Canada, Henry Willoughby of Mountmellick, an R.I.C. constable and Anne Willoughby of Monkstown, Dublin "conveyed and assigned to Timothy O'Hanrahan houses and premises at Wolfe's Arch". The same yearly fee farm rent of £9 4s.7d. was payable by Timothy O'Hanrahan to the Marquis of Ormonde.

The Tenants from 1850
The Primary Valuation records (Griffith Valuation) began in 1850. They record all changes in tenants and valuation of the property. For valuation purposes the front of Rothe House was dealt with separately from the rest and was included with the Coalmarket, Nos. 36, 37 and 38.

The map shows the location of these numbers. It will be noticed that the cellar under No. 36 and also under No. 38 were let separately to different tenants. No. 36 was leased by William Willoughby in 1850 to Thomas Howard and he was replaced in 1858 by Pat Langton. The valuation was £6. William Sweeney replaced Pat Langton. He in turn, was replaced soon after by John Tobin. The cellar was let to William Hogan and its valuation was £2 15s. 0d. No. 37 was let to lodgers (upper part) and the valuation was £4. No. 38 was let to Mary Gorman and the valuation was £4 l0s. 0d. The cellar under No. 38 was let to Anne Dea and its valuation was £2 l0s. 0d. There were many changes in the names of the tenants. For No. 36 we find Johanna Stokesbury followed by Richard Dunne. In 1875 Pat Casey replaced William Mulrooney in No. 36 and he was still tenant in 1885. (His name can be seen over the right hand arch in a photograph of c. 1885.)

When Timothy O'Hanrahan became owner in 1896, John Allen was tenant of No. 36 and the valuation was £29. William O'Brien replaced John Allen in 1904. In a lease dated September 1906, Thomas Bergin had his tenancy of the licensed premises in No. 38 renewed. In an accompanying map the parts of Rothe House leased to Thomas Bergin, and William O'Brien are shown as well as the League rooms and the Museum. In the lease it is stated that Thomas Bergin:

shall not remove or erect any wall or partition or close any existing window or doorway or open any new window or doorway or make any structural changes in the building without previous consent in writing and further that the said lessee shall not damage or remove any dressed stones or ornamental work of doors, windows or pillars or injure or alter the ancient covered well in the back yard.

After Thomas Bergin, No. 38 had the following tenants in fairly quick succession, John O'Connor, Michael Conway and Patrick Hoyne. The valuation was £14.

About 1915 James and Thomas Butler replaced Patrick Hoyne in the licensed premises in No. 38. In 1930 Timothy O'Hanrahan of Tennypark leased the licensed premises to Martin Brennan of Uskerty, Co. Kilkenny for a sum of £250 and an annual rent of £30. The lease also included the yards at the rere of the premises. Over the next 15 years the premises had the following tenants: William Daly, John Delaney of John Street, Andrew Byrne of Co. Wicklow, James Fitzpatrick, Martin Joseph Foley of Vicar Street and in 1945 Pierce Campion of 13 William Street, a shop assistant, became tenant. He was the last tenant. On the restoration of Rothe House in 1966 the tourist office was located here followed by Rudolf Heltzel, gold and silversmith.

The O'Hanrahan family had a butcher's shop in No. 36. John Brennan, from Co. Carlow continued to use the premises as a butcher's shop. In 1962 Rothe House was purchased jointly from the O'Hanrahan family by the Kilkenny Archaeological Society and Mr. Brennan. Finally in 1980 the Archaeological Society became outright owners, purchasing the part owned by James Brennan.

The valuation records here show the tenants of Wolf's Arch in 1850.

As explained previously Andrew Wolfe was a schoolmaster after whom this part of Rothe House is called. The map gives the number of the various rooms. The valuation is also given in the table. The tenants changed quite frequently and the valuation gradually decreased as the building fell into disrepair. In 1880 Nos. 3 to 7 were described as being in ruins. Richard Deloughry became tenant of No. 9 in 1884 and the valuation was £1. In 1885 Richard Deloughry leased No. I from John Willoughby and it was described as in very bad repair with its valuation reduced from £4 to £3. No. 2 had its valuation reduced from 15s. 0d. to 5s. 0d. as it was almost in ruins. The photograph of c. 1885 shows the nameplate of R. Deloughry's Iron and Brass Foundry over the entry arch at this period. His foundry was in the upper courtyard. In 1893 the valuation of No.1 was increased as the premises had been improved but No. 8 was in ruins and very dilapidated.

Timothy O'Hanrahan became owner in 1896 and parts of the premises were greatly improved. Part was leased to the Gaelic League in 1897. They have continued to be tenants of this part of the house until present times. The museum collection of the original Kilkenny Archaeological Society was exhibited for a few years in Rothe House.

[This article first appeared in the Society’s journal Old Kilkenny Review 1994.]

Michael O'Dwyer is the author of a history of his native parish, The history of Emly -Its history and heritage. He was for many years Honorary Librarian of the Society, and is a past Editor of the Old Kilkenny Review.

See also:
Report on archaeological excavations at Rothe House, Kilkenny.
Andrew Halpin

Page updated 1 February 2004