For their final TY Local History outing of the school year, our students visited the historic handball alley in The Butts Handball Alley, exploring an important part of Kilkenny’s sporting and working-class heritage.
Built in the 1950s as part of the Waterbarracks sports complex, the alley stands as a reminder of a time when handball was at the heart of community life in The Butts. Students learned how local sports such as handball offered young people an accessible way to compete, socialise and represent their community.
Particular attention was given to the remarkable story of Michael ‘Ducksie’ Walsh, widely regarded as one of the greatest handball players in Irish history. Born in The Butts, Ducksie went on to win 13 consecutive All-Ireland Softball Singles titles and dozens more national and international honours, helping to place Kilkenny handball on the world stage.
Students were especially interested to learn that August will mark the 10th anniversary of Ducksie’s sad passing in 2016. His legacy continues to live on through local clubs, community memory and the courts where he first developed his extraordinary talent.
It was also lovely to see local families arriving to use the courts after school, a reminder that this facility remains a living part of community life almost 75 years after it was first built.
This visit showed how local sporting spaces can preserve stories of identity, opportunity and pride while continuing to serve new generations today.