John Rothe: 15?? To 1620I was a wealthy merchant and landowner in Kilkenny. I built my mansion on what is now Parliament Street in the heart of Kilkenny City and lived there with my wife Rose Archer and our twelve children. I sold the fine cloths and other goods which I imported from Europe through New Ross and Waterford in my shop on the ground floor of my house. I also created a fine garden to the rear of the house, which my family and I used to entertain our guests in. We also grew vegetables and fruit for our own use. I was an alderman in the newly created Kilkenny Corporation, and served as Mayor of Kilkenny on a number of occasions. The business and the house passed to my son Peter when I died in 1620. He became involved in the Confederation of Kilkenny in the mid-1640s, and some of the meetings of that Assembly took place in my house. When the Confederation failed, he and his family were dispossessed of their property and banished to Galway. However, the house survives to this day in the centre of the City.
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