AthyWhere the Barrow meets the Grand Canal. White's Castle guards the bridge and the 1740s town hall stands on Emily Square.Museum
The Shackleton Experience
Athy, County Kildare
Athy's 1740s town hall on Emily Square reopened in 2025 as a museum on Ernest Shackleton, who was born at Kilkea a few miles away.
The Shackleton Experience in Athy, County Kildare, is the world’s only institution dedicated to polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, born in nearby Kilkea in 1874.
- Where
- Athy, County Kildare
- Address
- Emily Square
- Official site
- shackletonexperience.ie
- Map
- Directions · OpenStreetMap
- Before you go
- Opening times, prices and access change. Check with the place itself.
Nearby
The closest places on our lists, in any county.
AthyWhere the Barrow meets the Grand Canal. White's Castle guards the bridge and the 1740s town hall stands on Emily Square.
Barrow WayThe towpath follows the Barrow south from Lowtown, through Athy and on into Carlow.
Ballintubbert Gardens and HouseCecil Day-Lewis was born in this house near Stradbally. There is a walled garden and a holy well in the grounds.
Moone High CrossSeventeen feet of granite high cross under a roofed shelter at Moone, carved with fifty-one scriptural panels.What’s on nearby
Coming up within about 25km.
Today, Sunday 8th November
Friday 13th November
Saturday 14th November
Friday 20th November
More in Kildare
Irish National Stud and Japanese GardensGarden · Kildare townTully is still a working thoroughbred farm, and the Japanese gardens beside it were laid out between 1906 and 1910.
Castletown House and ParklandsHouse and gardens · CelbridgeIreland's first Palladian country house went up from 1722 at Celbridge, with parkland running down to the Liffey behind it.
St Brigid's Cathedral and Round TowerCathedral · Kildare townThe 13th century cathedral stands on the town square, and in season the round tower beside it can be climbed, by ladder, for the view out over the plain. Ask in the cathedral first.
The CurraghPark · NewbridgeTwo thousand hectares of unfenced grass between Newbridge and Kildare town, grazed by sheep and worked every morning by racehorses.
Donadea Forest ParkForest · ClaneNear Clane, forest laid out around the ruins of Donadea Castle, with a lake, a walled garden and a 9/11 memorial inside it.
Maynooth CastleCastle · MaynoothKeep and gatehouse of the Fitzgerald stronghold, standing at the top of Maynooth main street beside the university gates.
Castledermot Round TowerMonastic site · CastledermotThe round tower here is built onto the church itself, and the graveyard around it holds two granite high crosses and a Romanesque doorway.
Castledermot Franciscan FriaryRuin · CastledermotThe nave, the tower and the transept of this 13th century friary are all still standing, on the edge of the village.