Gowran (; ) is a town located on the eastern side of County Kilkenny, Ireland. The historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church is located in the centre of Gowran close to Gowran Castle. Gowran Park race course and Golf Course are located one km from the centre of Gowran. Gowran is located on the R448 regional road (former N9 national primary road) where it is crossed by the R702 regional road. History Gowran was a place of importance prior to the Norman invasion and a royal residence of the Kings of Ossory, who were sometimes recorded as the Kings of Gowran. Edward the Bruce with his army of Scots and Ulstermen took the town in 1316. James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde built Gowran Castle in 1385 close to the site of the present castle and town walls were erected circa 1415. King James I made Gowran a parliamentary borough in 1608. The town, under the command of Colonel Robert Hammond, surrendered to Oliver Cromwell on 21 March 1650 following a siege. Colonel Hammond was a cousin of Cromwell's. The soldiers of the garrison accepted Cromwell's offer of quarter for their lives and handed their officers over to the Parliamentarians. Cromwell ordered the execution by firing squad of all but one of the officers; a priest captured in the castle was hanged. In 1688 James II granted A Charter of Incorporation to the town and, of 18 burgesses listed, six were Kealys. A Magdelan hospital was built outside the walls circa 1578 "For the relief of poor leprous people". Gowran was a constituency represented in the Irish House of Commons until 1800. Churches In the centre of the village is the historic St. Mary's Collegiate Church which contains monuments from the 14th to 17th centuries. This Collegiate Church was built in the late 13th century on the site of an earlier monastery. It was served by a "college"—clerics who lived in a community but who did not submit to the rule of a monastery. They lived in a house, now destroyed, beside the Church. The Church was a large and elaborate structure, with an aisled nave—the main part of the Church where the congregation—and a long chancel—the section of the Church where the altar was placed—and has high-quality architectural sculpture used throughout. In the late middle ages a massive tower was inserted between the nave and chancel, and in the 19th