The Museum

The main structure can be dated back as far as the 1590's, town records showing its primary function having been that of a market house. Meanwhile,the elegant facade was added in 1703 and is very clearly Northern European in style. One of the features of note is the Venetian window above the entrance, a very rare and unusual example in this country.

Kinsale received its first royal Charter in 1334, a mark of the town's commercial as well as strategic importance. Owing to the expansion and increasing prosperity of the town and to the building's position as a natural focal point, by 1706 it had developed from a simple trading centre into an administrative one. The then mayor and chief justice, Thurston Haddock combined his business under one roof, thus giving rise to one of the building's more familiar incarnations, that of courthouse. It was here in 1915, that the inquest into the sinking of the RMS Lusitania was held and even today sad reminders of this time echo about the walls.The museum houses a large number of local artifacts relating to Kinsale's maritime,  military and secular history from the Battle of Kinsale to the Kinsale Giant.

The idea of housing this Alladin's cave of material under one roof and of opening it to the public was originated by the famous Kinsale historian Seamas Breathnach who did not live to see the fruits of his work. For many years the labour intensive job of restoring and categorising these pieces has been the job of two men, Eugene Gillan and Michael Mulcahy, themselves experts on the history of Kinsale and the surrounding area.