Overview
Dunmore Cave is small as show caves go, a series of limestone chambers north of Kilkenny dropping into the Castlecomer Plateau, but it holds two things bigger caves don’t: impressive calcite formations, and a ninth-century Viking story written into the rock. Access is by guided tour only, down a sequence of chambers linked by stone steps. The centrepiece, and the one thing to make sure you see, is the Market Cross, a calcite column rising more than 5.8 m that looks uncannily like a medieval high cross.
A contested Viking past
The cave’s history is as layered as its limestone. It first appears in the 9th-century Triads of Ireland, which list it among the three darkest places in the country. The grimmer story comes from the annals: the Annals of the Four Masters record a Viking attack at the cave in AD 928, and the story goes that a Viking force killed around a thousand people sheltering inside.
How much of that is true is unsettled. Archaeologists have recovered human remains from the cave, from infants to adults, but the case for a single massacre is thinner than the story suggests, and some now read the site as a place of refuge and burial rather than a battlefield. Finds from the cave point to Viking activity. In 1999 a hoard of 43 silver and bronze items, dated to around 970, was found in the cave, the kind of cache someone buries meaning to come back for.
The site was designated a National Monument in 1944 and opened to the public in 1967. The visitor centre lays out both the geology and the disputed history.
Geology and the underground landscape
Dunmore Cave is a solutional cave, dissolved out of Carboniferous limestone over a very long time as groundwater worked along the rock’s joints. Inside it stays cold and damp, the conditions that let calcite build slowly into stalactites, stalagmites, sweeping flowstones and thin, curtain-like draperies.
The constant drip of water sets the pace of the tour, and of the cave itself.
Planning your visit
- Guided access only – Enter the cave on a guided tour. Heritage Ireland gives current opening and contact details. Places are limited, so email the OPW ahead of your visit.
- Admission – Check current prices on the Heritage Ireland page before you go.
- What to wear – The cave is cold and damp whatever the weather outside, and the floor can be slick. Sturdy, non-slip shoes are essential; bring a jacket or jumper even in summer.
- Steps and mobility – The route has about 700 steps and uneven surfaces and is unsuitable for wheelchairs. Anyone with a heart condition or serious mobility issue should think twice. Ask the OPW about access to the visitor centre.
- Children – Children must be supervised. Check the operator’s rules if visiting with very young children.
- Facilities – Check with the OPW before you go for current facilities, including the visitor centre.
- Combining your trip – Dunmore Cave sits just north of Kilkenny city. Kilkenny Castle is about 9 km south, and Jenkinstown has forest walks and a walled garden ten minutes away. The Black Abbey in the city and the Cistercian ruins at Jerpoint Abbey make easy add-ons.
Contact the OPW in advance and allow about an hour for the tour.