BALLYRAGGET was our venue last Sunday for a meet of the North Kilkenny Foxhounds. Tradition was broken as hounds didn’t meet in the town square but rather in a yard across from Ballyragget House, now an Aiséirí centre.

This yard is owned by long time hunt supporter Larry O’Reilly. Ballyragget House, now an addiction centre, was once the home of Lord Kildare and hounds were kennelled in the stable yard. The town has many claims to fame, not just because it hosts the largest multi-purpose dairy plant in Europe, Glanbia plc, who can trace its roots to the Avonmore Co-operative, founded in Ballyragget in the 1960s.