Thomastown Country Market

Thomastown Country Market has been setting up in the town’s community hall every Saturday morning for years, one of a network of traditional country markets run in towns across the south east by local growers and home bakers rather than commercial traders. It runs from 11am to around 1pm and is a small, unfussy affair, tables of home-baked bread and cakes, seasonal vegetables, jams and crafts, sold by the people who made or grew them, with the proceeds going directly back to the stallholders rather than a middleman.

What to expect

The market fills the Thomastown Community Hall with tables of home-produced goods: fresh bread, scones and traybakes, seasonal fruit and vegetables from local gardens and allotments, jams and preserves, and handmade crafts, run largely by the same core group of local producers from one week to the next. It sits within the wider country market movement, a long-standing model of small producer-run markets found across rural Ireland, and it operates alongside the other community groups that use Thomastown Community Centre through the week, from the local ICA branch to fitness classes. It is a modest, functional market rather than a destination event, best suited to picking up fresh baking and produce as part of a Saturday morning in the town rather than a full day out.

Getting there

Thomastown Community Hall is in the centre of Thomastown, a short walk from the town’s main square and from Thomastown railway station on the Dublin to Waterford line. On-street parking is available around the town centre.

While you’re in Thomastown

Thomastown sits on the River Nore and is one of Kilkenny’s most attractive medieval market towns in its own right, with Jerpoint Abbey a short drive away. There is more to see in Thomastown and across Co. Kilkenny.

Good to know

• Date and time: every Saturday, from around 11am to 1pm
• Venue: Thomastown Community Hall, Thomastown
• Free to browse; pay only for what you buy
• Home baking, local produce and crafts, sold by local producers
• Long-running, part of the wider Irish country markets network