Overview
Stoneyford is a small village on the R713, about 14 km south of Kilkenny City. Two small streams run through it and feed the Kings River, which passes less than 500 metres to the north – so despite what you might read, the village sits on the streams, not on the river itself. There is not a great deal to detain you here, and most visitors are passing through towards Jerpoint or Mount Juliet. But it has two things worth stopping for that few villages this size can claim: a working pub that will teach you to hurl, and a patch of ground that turned up a Roman grave.
The Hurling Experience at Malzards
If you do one thing in Stoneyford, do this. Malzard-O’Grady’s has been a pub since 1789 and has stayed in the same family for over five generations. It runs a Hurling Experience where local players hand you a hurl and a sliotar and show you the basics of the game Kilkenny takes more seriously than anywhere else. It is the rare tourist activity that is genuinely local – you are being taught by people who play – and it pairs naturally with a pint afterwards.
A Roman grave in Kilkenny
Stoneyford holds a small archaeological puzzle. A burial dated to the first or second century AD was found near the village, containing a green glass cremation urn, a lachrymatory – a small bottle for tears – and a bronze mirror. Rome never conquered Ireland, so a Roman-style burial this far from the frontier is unusual, and it is taken as a sign of trade contact, or possibly a small Roman-connected settlement, long before the monasteries. The finds are the interest here rather than any visible site.
Hurling heritage
The local club, Carrickshock, is one of the older powers in Kilkenny hurling, with seven county senior championships to its name – 1931, 1938, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1951. That run in the early 1940s is the kind of local history a first pint at Malzards will get you talking about.
Around the village
The lanes and the streamside make for gentle, unhurried walking, and the country roads north towards the Kings River are quiet enough for a proper amble. This is walking-shoe territory, not a marked-trail destination.
For bigger days out, Stoneyford makes a handy base:
- Jerpoint Abbey: one of Ireland’s best-preserved Cistercian monasteries, set in a river valley a short drive off.
- Mount Juliet: a country estate with a championship golf course, gardens and equestrian facilities.
- Kells Priory at nearby Kells: a walled medieval priory, one of the largest in the country.
- Callan: a neighbouring riverside town with a heritage centre and a historic market cross.
Getting there and practical information
Stoneyford is a 15-minute drive south of Kilkenny City on the R713, and there is free street parking in the village centre. A direct bus runs to Kilkenny six times a week, Monday to Friday, taking about 13 to 15 minutes.
The village’s set-piece event is the annual Stoneyford 5K/10K Challenge, held in May (17 May in 2026), with 5K and 10K races and a Kids’ 1K Fun Dash, raising funds for the local school. If you are visiting in late spring, it is the day the whole place turns out.