Tullahought: South Kilkenny’s Tidy Towns standard bearer

As part of our Between Towns And Villages series, KCLR travelled to the beautifully appointed village of Tullahought in the Lingaun Valley.

There, we met with Breda Horgan, Richie Walsh and Jimmy Walsh, all stalwarts of the village’s superb Tidy Towns group, which has made remarkable strides since first entering the competition back in 1991, thanks to the gentle persuasion exercised by then Parish Priest Robert Raftice.

Last year, Tullahought earned its first Tidy Towns Gold Medal, and was one of only three Kilkenny winners to receive such an accolade in 2025, alongside Kilkenny City and Inistioge.

Its “exceptional homesteads” and “outstanding” gardens impressed judges and contributed to such a wholly deserved accolade and 390 well-earned points.

You Tube: ’34 Years to Gold’ – Tullahought Tidy Town’s 34 Year Journey to a Gold Medal.

The gold medal now takes pride of place in the village’s Community Centre, the former schoolhouse which once stood derelict, dwarfed by trees which had emerged through its broken roofing. However, like several other buildings in the locality, the commitment of the local community has given the centre a new lease of life and purpose.

A helpful visitor guide, which is available at the Community Centre (which also features a public toilet) reveals the extent of what Tullahought has to offer.

From the pure waters provided by Crokes Well, featuring a stone surround built in 1994, the Viewing Tower constructed in 1997 (complete with information panels) to the cobbled riverside retreat at Kearns’ Bridge, constructed by “the ladies of the community in 2007”, the care taken in each project is readily evident when visiting the village.

On its southern approach, opposite Crokes Well and beneath Kilmacoliver Hill and its loop walks stands the Watering Place (with adjacent parking and picnic tables), once used by farmers to water their livestock. Today, it’s a beautiful wildlife sanctuary, featuring dragonflies, frogs and other flora and fauna. Behind its wicket gate and fence lies a peace and calm cultivated by local goodwill.

Honouring the past and safeguarding Tullahought’s heritage for future generations is a key plank in the local Tidy Towns’ group’s ongoing work. This was evidenced thanks to a strong community response during Heritage Week, in which several unmarked graves in Tullahought Cemetery have been positively identified.

This information will help to advance the long term mapping of the graveyard and the creation of a new, external map board which will detail headstones, family names and further plot information.

Further information for this project can be emailed to [email protected]

Our recent chat with Breda, Richie and Jimmy underlined that 35 years of dedicated, community-led endeavour in Tullahought firmly remains a work in progress.

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