About Jenkinstown Park
Jenkinstown Park is situated off the N78, about 10km north of Kilkenny city and 11km south of Castlecomer.
Thomas Moore wrote ‘The Last Rose of Summer’ while staying at Jenkinstown House. The actual Rose that inspired him lives on: a cutting taken from it flourishes in the National Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin.
The wood has a picnic site and a number of marked trails.
The main tree species in the park are beech, ash, oak, and Norway spruce. Some original park trees from the 1870s survive and include a number of rare species such as the Chinese necklace poplar. A carpet of bluebells flowering in a beech wood in mid-to-late April is a special features of the park’s other flora.
The park is home to foxes, badgers, stoats, red and grey squirrels, and enclosed deer, as well as bats in the old church. Many species of birds – including pheasant, ravens, and the long-eared owl – inhabit the woods.