Qualla: Gowran https://qualla.com/gowran en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Gowran https://qualla.com/gowran Gowran: Introduction https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit No machine-readable author provided. Tolivero~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain. Arundel Elias Disney was born in Gowran, County Kilkenny around 1801 and emigrated. His descendants ended up in California, where his great-grandson Walter founded an entertainment company. The town that produced them is small - a triangular medieval foundation thirteen kilometres east of Kilkenny city, with a single main street rising to St Mary's Collegiate Church at its highest point, the racecourse a kilometre south, and the rebuilt Gowran Castle just behind the church. For a place this size, Gowran has produced an unusual number of historical departures: Disney's people in 1801, William Butler Yeats's great-great-grandmother in 1773, the hurler D. J. Carey in 1970.

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: No machine-readable author provided. Tolivero~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims). | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Gowran: Two centuries before the Normans https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit Ω ENGLISH LOCK Ω 20:51, 31 December 2008 (UTC), CC BY-SA 3.0. Gowran was already old when the Normans arrived in 1169. The kings of Ossory had a residence here; the place was known as Belach Gabhrán, the pass of Gabhrán, on a natural east-west route between the Nore and Barrow valleys. The Battle of Bealach Gabhrán was fought in 754. By 938...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: Ω ENGLISH LOCK Ω 20:51, 31 December 2008 (UTC) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-two-centuries-before-the-normans.mp3 0:06 2 full Gowran: Theobald, James, and the wall https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit A.-K. D., CC BY-SA 4.0. After the Norman Invasion of 1169, the Manor of Gowran - 44,000 acres - was granted to Theobald FitzWalter, who became the first Chief Butler of Ireland and the ancestor of all subsequent Butlers and Ormondes. He incorporated the town sometime after 1177 and died in 1206. His des...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: A.-K. D. | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-theobald-james-and-the-wall.mp3 0:06 3 full Gowran: 21 March 1650 https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit A.-K. D., CC0. In the spring of 1650, with Cromwell's army marching through Munster and Leinster, Gowran was held by a Royalist garrison under Colonel Robert Hammond - a cousin of Cromwell, on the wrong side of the family quarrel. The garrison surrendered after a brief siege and accepted Cromwe...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: A.-K. D. | CC0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-21-march-1650.mp3 0:06 4 full Gowran: St Mary's, the burial ground of earls https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit Sarah777 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. St Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran was the Butlers' mausoleum for a hundred and fifty years. James Butler, first Earl of Ormond, who died in 1338, lies here with his wife Eleanor de Bohun - granddaughter of Edward I of England, niece of Edward II - the two effigies still preserve...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-st-marys-the-burial-ground-of-earls.mp3 0:06 5 full Gowran: Arkle won here https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit David Dixon, CC BY-SA 2.0. Gowran Park racecourse opened on 16 June 1914 and has run National Hunt and flat meetings ever since. Its signature race is the Thyestes Chase, sometimes called the Grand National of the South - a 3-mile chase run in late January. It has been won by three of the greatest steeplec...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: David Dixon | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-arkle-won-here.mp3 0:06 6 full Gowran: Where the world began for some people https://qualla.com/gowran/ Photo credit Sarah777 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. Arundel Elias Disney left Gowran in the 1830s, emigrating first to Ontario, Canada, where the family eventually put down roots before later generations moved to the United States. So did thousands of others, in the Famine years and after - the small streets of the town today pres...

Read more: Gowran on Qualla

Image: Sarah777 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/6/g/gowran-wp/gc6g-gowran-where-the-world-began-for-some-people.mp3 0:06 7 full