Irish Youth Hostel Association
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Table of Contents

  1. Contents
  2. Halloween in Foulksrath!
  3. October Festivals
  4. Errigal Update
  5. Rugby Fever
  6. Competition Time!
  7. Whitepark Bay Hostel
  8. Discount Partner
  9. Hostel of the Month
  10. Go As You Please
  11. International Membership
  12. Christchurch YH New Zealand
  13. Hostels close for the Winter Months
Hostelling International
Volume 2, Issue 9
Sep 2007

Halloween in Foulksrath!

Hands up who wants to spend Halloween in a Haunted castle?! Well we can help you out there! In our chain of hostels we have our very own haunted castle just outside the medieval city of Kilkenny, Foulksrath Castle, and it would be the perfect place to spend your Halloween!

Kilkenny, a county steeped in tradition and history offers many attractions. Kilkenny City itself is the former medieval capital of Ireland and today offers visitors the opportunity to explore its historic castle, browse its quaint streets and dine in its fine restaurants.

The county boasts such attractions as Dunmore Caves – Ireland’s finest calcite formations, the Famine Village, Licketstown to the south, and also the birthplace of Jonathan Swift.

Foulksrath Castle, a striking 16th Century Norman House Tower has successfully transformed into a hostel. Its medieval features include a magnificent dining room with enormous fireplaces and a spiral staircase to the upper floors. The staircase appears to end up by the dorm, but there is indeed a secret passageway out to the roof. Finding this, you will be rewarded with stunning views across Jenkinstown and a feeling of really being King (or Queen!) of the Castle!

This is Ireland’s oldest hostel and celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1998. The castle has a stone walled dining room, with under floor heating and a stone spiral staircase to the upper floors, all keeping with first impressions.
Many guests gather in the evenings where they like to eat by candlelight and share travel tales. A BBC television team of British Ghost hunters visited the hostel and sent back a report to say that ‘their machines recorded the best ghostly sounds of any place they visited in Ireland’.

It is believed that the daughter of the owner (Dean Swift) fell in love with an Irish boy and was locked away by her father in the ‘Cuckoo Nest’ room to stop her from seeing him. The girl is believed to have finally been killed by her father in this room and it seems that the ghost of the girl still can be found in this ‘Cuckoo Nest’ room.

So why not make this Halloween, one to remember, Ghost hunting in Foulksrath Castle?

 

 

For bookings or for more information please visit www.irelandyha.org email marketing@anoige.ie or phone 00353 1 8304555