About Kells
Kells, Ceanannas in Irish, is a village in County Kilkenny, 12 km south of Kilkenny. It stands on the R697, L1023 and L1026. The map gives it 542 buildings and 10 named streets, with 28 places named on them in 30 kinds, and 205 things to see in and around it. By the number of buildings on the map it is the 25th largest of the 42 settlements this site covers in County Kilkenny.
- Where
- 12 km south of Kilkenny, 113 km from Dublin
- Position
- 52.5397° N, 7.2734° W
- Roads
- R697, L1023, L1026 and L1027
- Governed
- Kilkenny County Council, in the province of Leinster
- On the model
- 542 buildings, 10 streets, 28 named places in 30 kinds
Kells in order
3 of the places on this map carry a date on Wikidata, running from 1180 to the fifteenth century. That is not a history of Kells, and it is not written as one: it is the order in which the things still standing were built, which is the part a map can actually tell you.
- 1180Jerpoint AbbeyAbbeys · 8.5 km from the centre · national monument of Ireland
- 1193Kells Augustinian PrioryRingforts and sites · 450 m from the centre · national monument of Ireland
- the fifteenth centuryCallan Augustinian FriaryHistoric churches · 7.7 km from the centre · national monument of Ireland
County Kilkenny since 1841
Every census of the county, which is the only way to see what happened to rural Ireland: the fall from the Famine runs for a century, and the recovery is recent.
Source: Central Statistics Office, table F1001 'Population at Each Census', read through the PxStat API, read 2026-09-20.
What to see
Closest to the centre first, with how far each one is.
- Famous Horses of Kells20 mMonuments
- Kells Village30 mInformation boards
- Kings River300 mInformation boards
- Kells Priory Mill Museum330 mMuseums
- Kells Loop330 mInformation boards
- 350 m
- Kells350 mInformation boards
- Kells Augustinian Priory450 mRingforts and sites
- Water Tower450 mCastles
- Infirmary460 mRuins
- Chapter House480 mRuins
- North Transept480 mHistoric churches
Getting around
The map records the R697, L1023, L1026 and L1027 running through Kells.
1 line calls at 2 stops here. Plan a journey for the day and time you are going.
1 school or college on the map: Saint Brigid's National School.
Questions people ask
Where is Kells?
How big is Kells?
What is there to see in Kells?
How do you get to Kells?
Has County Kilkenny grown or shrunk?
Buildings, streets, places, roads and position are OpenStreetMap, counted by this site rather than quoted from anywhere. Population, elevation, area and twinning are structured claims on Wikidata (item Q4219147). County population is the Central Statistics Office. Journeys are the National Transport Authority’s published timetable. Every sentence on this page is written from those numbers; none of it is copied from a description of the place.