Kilkenny Old Jail and Courthouse (also known as Grace's Castle) The present building is on the site of an ancient castle built about 1210. This had been replaced by 1566 by an Anglo-Irish Town House. The owner James Grace yielded it up to the Crown for use as a jail. He was rewarded by being appointed Constable or Governor of the Jail with an income of 20 nobles a year. The building was already in use as a courthouse by the year 1792, shortly after it finished serving as the County Jail, although it continued to serve as a bridewell into this century.