Location – In the small village of St. Mullin’s in the Southernmost tip of Co. Carlow. This is about 3km South-East of Graiguenamanagh.
OS: S 729 381 (map 68)
Longitude: 6° 55' 34.9" W
Latitude: 52° 29' 22.84" N
GPS: S 72920 38117 (Accuracy – 3m)
The references above are for the graveyard which the majority of the sites are located in.
See map at the bottom of the page.
Description and History – This is a truly wonderful site and I would love to visit here again. When I travelled down to St. Mullin’s it was terrible weather so all the pictures are grey with the occasional rain spot. However, this did little to detract from the archaeological wonders at St. Mullin’s. The site is an early Christian foundation founded by St. Moling (St. Mullin) in the 7th century. The saint was buried here in 697. A plan of the monastery from an 8th century manuscript called the Book of Mulling shows 12 high crosses at the site. Only part of one remains today. The monastery became annexed to Ferns in Co. Wexford, an abbey of Augustinian canons in 1160. This abbey had been founded by Dermot McMurrough. In 951 the site was plundered by the Vikings and site was burned again in 1138. St. Mullin’s Day (June 17th) and St. James’s Day (July 25th) are celebrated here by pilgrims. In 1349 there was a great gathering here of people hoping to do penance to relieve the devastating effects of the Black Death in the country. Today six ruined medieval churches remain along with the stump of a round tower, a high cross and a more modern disused Protestant church which may occupy the site of an earlier church. Very close to the site is a motte and bailey and an unusual holy well. The main site is a bit of a jumble of places so I’ve done my best to sort them out although it is sometimes difficult to determine where one building ends and the next begins.
Click below for individual sites.
Difficulty – It’s an easy village to find and the site itself is easy to navigate.
For more ecclesiastical sites, click here.
For more sites in Co. Carlow, click here.
View The Standing Stone in a larger map
