Kilmacow, Grannagh and Dunkitt Pill
In 2024 I undertook a major piece of research on behalf of Regina Fitzpatrick. Heritage Officer. Kilkenny County Council on the River Blackwater of Kilkenny.
As a result of the research we identified numerous references to the word Pill. In some cases, it is a placename. Examples include the Blackwater Pill, Pill, Pill Mill, Pill Road, Grannagh Pill, Dunkit Pill or Kilmacow Pill. Locals also use it as a general, even casual description of the lower parts of the river. This paper also explores the navigable waterway, the types of trade, cargo, and craft.
The Blackwater River might be considered a backwater to the modern reader. Although in a navigable waterway sense it is certainly eclipsed by the river of the same name that acts as a boundary between Waterford and Cork, this in no way diminishes its historic role to the region of South Kilkenny which it drains. For this small river has a proud heritage, particularly as a location of early agricultural trade and commerce. A modest navigation, it certainly punched above its weight in the context of the quantity of traffic that used the waterway.
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