County Kilkenny coat of arms, Ireland: Ermine, a fess party per pale, dexter sable three garbs argent, sinister quarterly 1st and 4th: argent, 2nd and 3rd: gules a fret or. Text per www.heraldry-wiki.com[1]: The fess contains the arms of two families, one Gaelic, the other Norman, thereby signifying the historic and harmonious fusion of these two great Irish traditions within the County. The silver garbs or sheaves on a black field represent Dermot MacMorrough, King of Leinster (Burke, Sir Bernard, The General Armory, London, 1884, p.645, gives the arms of "Mac Morogh, King of Leinster ... who surrendered his sovereignty to King Henry II of England in 1172" as Sable, three garbs or) while the gold fret on red is associated with the family of Den or de la Denn who, according to Samuel Lewis, were possessed of the Castle of Grenan near Thomastown. (See: Carrigan's History and Antiquities of the Diocese of Ossory and entitled "The Dens of Grenan"[2])