Kilkenny (from the Irish: Cill Chainnigh meaning "Cell or church of Cainnech/Canice") is described as a city and is the traditional county town of County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the River Nore, at the centre of County Kilkenny in the province of Leinster in the south-east of Ireland. The 2006 Irish Census shows the Aggregate Town Area to have a population of 30,942.

Kilkenny is famous for and attracts many tourists due to Kilkenny Castle and its many medieval buildings. Kilkenny began with an early ecclesiastical foundation. The area surrounding the cathedral, Irishtown, is the oldest part of the town and became the hub around which the town developed. The seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ossory is at St. Mary's Cathedral and the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cashel and Ossory is at St. Canice's Cathedral.

The first stone castle on the castle site was completed in 1213. In early Norman times, up to the late 12th century, Kilkenny was the capital of the colony in Ireland. By the late thirteenth century Kilkenny was under Norman-Irish control. The Norman presence in the town is still very evident. The Statutes of Kilkenny passed at Kilkenny in 1367, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland.