3-017-310 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Festivities at Kilkenny Castle [in Ireland] on the Coming of Age of the Marquis of Ormonde, 1865. To celebrate '...the young Lord's twenty-first birthday...there was a grand display of fireworks on the castle-lawn...by arrangement of a committee of the citizens. It was supplied by Mr. J. Lawrence, of Dublin, and consisted of various water-rockets, fire-fountains, and other devices; also a beautiful horizontal wheel, discharging coloured stars in every direction, which was floated on a raft in the river, with wonderful effect. The aerial fireworks included rockets of every possible description, shells of golden rain, and coloured stars. The whole concluded with a magnificent motto-piece displaying the words, "Long live the House of Ormonde," in large letters of fire, which changed colours as if by magic. Our Illustration shows the effect of the fireworks in the college-lawn, with the castle in the background and the river in the middle distance. We understand that the Marchioness of Ormonde gave an order for the distribution of 5s. and 8lb. of beef to every labourer on the Ormonde property. Her Ladyship also sent a gratuity of £1 each to the inmates of the Ormonde Hospital'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.