ByRoute 4.1 Co. Wicklow (W) // Co. Kilkenny
Ullard (Co. Kilkenny / East)
Ullard was the site of a C6th monastic community established by Saint Fiachre, who went on to found the celebrated French abbey of Mieux, and is the patron saint of gardening, taxi cabs and venereal diseases.
Ullard church
Ullard’s small C12th nave-and-chancel church, now a roofless ruin, has an exceptionally fine but weathered Romanesque west doorway with chevrons, beading, zoomorphic heads and human faces. (Photo by Liam Murphy)
The chancel has a later two-light east window. The crypt below the altar may have been incorporated to keep the floor level, as the edifice stands on a slope.
The handball alley rather shockingly attached to the east gable could in fact have helped to preserve the ruin. Just outside the SE corner is a greatly eroded High Cross.
Ullard is close to Borris (Co. Carlow) on ByRoute 5.
Dungarvan & Tullaherin (Co. Kilkenny / Central)
Kilbawn Country House looks like a convent, but has received good reviews for its family-friendly B&B accommmodation facilities, notably its excellent breakfasts.
Tullaherin is an ecclesiastical site, reputedly the burial place of Saint Kieran of Seir, first Bishop of Ossory, whose Feast (March 5th) used to be celebrated with a pattern attended by thousands. A Holy Well in the vicinity is also dedicated to the saint. (Photo – Gaelscoil Osraí)
Tullaherin’s C9th church was extended in the C13th and largely rebuilt in 1616 for use by the local Church of Ireland congregation; the edifice is now a ruin. There are some interesting graves in the surrounding cemetery.
Tullaherin’s Round Tower, 22.5m / 73ft high, is said to be an unusually early C9th example of its kind, most likely built by Cearbhall MacDunghal as a fortification against the Norsemen. Walking sticks recently found on top by workmen carrying out restoration came from a fime not so long ago when young men in the area used to compete to throw such objects over the tower with one hand while resting the other against the wall.
Tullaherin also has two Ogham Stones and a Marigold Stone.
Tullaherin Folk Museum contains interesting household and agricultural artefacts of local life in times past. Opened only on request, the Museum is run by Tullaherin Heritage Society, who also have an excellent journal called In The Shadow of The Steeple, available online.
Tullaherin is close to Bennettsbridge on ByRoute 5.
Stonyford is reputed to have a Roman burial site, possibly connected with an ancient trade delegation. The local pub is a friendly traditional music venue.
Stonyford is on the N10 linking Kilkenny City to Knocktopher on ByRoute 3.
Lawcus Farm Guesthouse, beautifully situated on the banks of the King’s River, gets rave reviews on the Internet from travellers who have visited it.
Kells & Kilree (Co. Kilkenny / Central)
Kells, once a regional capital, is located on the bank of the King’s River / Abhainn Rí (sometimes anglicised as the Avonree). Nowadays it is a small, friendly village with a charming millpond and a couple of good pubs.
Kells Priory
Kells Augustinian Priory is probably the largest monastic site in Ireland.
The magnificent complex, known locally as “the castles“, was begun in 1193 on the instructions of Strongbow by his brother-in-law, Baron Geoffrey FitzRobert de Marisco, who died in 1211 in Hereford Castle, where he was being held hostage by King John as a guarantor of an agreement with the English Barons.
Sacked by William de Bermingham in 1252, the priory was held by Edward Bruce on his way to defeating the forces of Lord Justice Edmund le Botiler (Butler) on Palm Sunday in 1316, and sacked again by a second William de Bermingham with the Geraldines in 1327.
Upon King Henry VIII‘s 1540 Dissolution of the Monasteries, over 3,000 acres of land were redistributed, mainly to Richard Butler, Viscount Mountgarret.
The carefully restored defensive walls enclose the remains of the original C12th church, an extensive and ornate cloister, living quarters, an abbey and chapels which, like the seven towers, were added over time, together with a mill and brewery.
St. Kieran’s church, south of the priory, began as a pre-Norman church that existed long before the priory was even considered. Sometime after the 1540 dissolution of the priory the present front and west wing and bell tower were added to provide a Church of Ireland place of worship. The old town of Kells appears to have been situated over the road from this church.
Kells Mills & Mill Museum, located in a picturesque riverside setting, are also well worth a visit.
Kells is within easy reach of Burnchurch on ByRoute 5.
Kilree is the oldest religious site in the area, dating back at least 1200 years, with additions made over the centuries. Although said to have been founded by Saint Brigid, little is in fact known of the history of the settlement before its C13th annexation by the nearby Priory of Kells.
Kilree’s ruined church contains an interesting C17th funerary monument. The heavily wooded surrounding cemetery gives this isolated site a hushed, almost haunted feel.
Kilree’s mid-Round Tower is 29m / 95ft high and very well preserved, although missing its conical top.
The late C8th / early C9th High Cross is believed to indicate the burial spot of Niall Caille, the heroic Gaelic chieftain / High King who reputedly drowned in 844 AD while rescuing a servant. In addition to geometric patterns, the badly weathered stone carvings apparently include an Adoration of the Magi, Daniel in the Lions’ Den, St Anthony and St Paul in the desert; the Temptation of St Anthony; Jacob and the Angel; a figure flanked by two horsemen and a hunting scene. (Photo by amki2222)
Kilree is not far from Killmaganny on ByRoute 3.
Callan (Co. Kilkenny / West)
Callan (Callainn) (pop.1500) is a friendly market town on the Kings River / Abhainn Rí, supposedly named after Niall Caille, a High King who according to legend was drowned in 844 AD while attempting to rescue a servant during a battle with the Danes.
Callan’s main streets were elegantly laid out in the C18th, and feature several handsome Georgian houses, attractive shopfronts and some good pubs and eateries.
Callan History
The Seneschal of Leinster,William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, built a castle around which grew a heavily fortified mediaeval settlement, which received its first charter in 1207, 1217 or 1271.
The village passed to the Butlers of Ormond in 1391, and soon became on of the most prosperous population centres in their domain.
The Battle of Callan (not to be confused with the 1261 battle of the same name in County Kerry) took place nearby c.1405 between an army led by Taig O’Carroll, The O’Carroll of Ossory and Crown forces under his brother-in-law, King Henry IV‘s Lord Deputy James Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormond, the “White Earl”, who was the eventual victor after major casualties were sustained on both sides.
Cromwellian troops attacked Callan in 1650, capturing the town after fierce fighting, including bombardment of the medieval castle and fortifications, with great loss of life.
Callan was bought in 1735 by John Cuffe, 1st Baron Desart, whose son, known to contemporaries as Seán an Chaipín, sold most of the local property in 1765 to James Agar, MP for Kilkenny (killed four years later by the great Parliamentary orator Henry Flood in a duel at Dunmore Cave). His son George Agar became MP for Callan in 1777 and 1st Baron Callan in 1790, but the title died with him in 1815.
The C19th saw great poverty and suffering in the Callan district. Over 3500 people died in the local Workhouse during the Great Famine and its immediate aftermath.
In 1849 the renowned ‘Callan Curates’, fathers Tom O’Shea and Matt Keeffe, took on local landlords (notably John Otway O’Connor Cuffe, 3rd Earl of Desart, whose agent’s evictions at Ballingarry caused notorious distress) by founding the Callan Tenant Protection Society, which rapidly developed into a national movement called the Tenant League, a forerunner of the great National Land League of later in the century.
During the War of Independence 4 out of the 7 companies in the IRA‘s 7th Battalion came from the Callan area.
The Moat is a well-preserved late C12th Motte & Bailey structure on the outskirts of Callan. (Photo by Barry Somers)
St Mary’s church (CoI) was founded by Bishop Hugh de Mapilton in 1251. The west tower is all that remains of the original edifice; the nave, chancel and aisles date from 1460, and a chapel was added in 1530. Fine sculptured details adorn the north and south doors. Adam le Blound, the second husband of notorious Kilkenny “witch” Alice Kyteller, is buried in the church grounds.
The Augustinian Friary was founded in 1462 by Eamonn MacRisderd Butler, but the existing building were erected by James Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond, who was buried here in 1487. The sedilla in the south wall of the choir is one of the most ornametal of its kind in Ireland.
A Holy Well reputed to have curative powers can be found in the Abbey Meadow, a place where for centuries local young people used to meet in the evening while collecting the next day’s water supply for their parents, before the town had piped water.
The old Town Hall & Market House (1791) now contains a restaurant.
Callan Workhouse, opened in 1842 to accommodate up to 600 paupers, held as many as 2000 at a time during the height of the Great Famine and its aftermath; by 1851 more than 1400 people had died inside the complex, and a further 2000 in adjacent sheds used as fever wards. Only the main building survives, now used as County Council offices.
The Priory, built by John Rice for a new Augustinian community in 1802, and the Workhouse (1840) are both undergoing conversion into civic amenities.
The parish church of the Assumption (RC), a neo-classical structure completed in 1843 and long known as “the Big Chapel”, features some rich stucco work.
In the main street stands a Memorial to Edmund Ignatius Rice (1762- 1844), founder of the notorious Christian Brothers. His thatched home, Rice House, aka the Edmund Rice Heritage Centre, Westcourt, is a popular tourist site.
Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin (1780-1838) was a local schoolmaster and linen-draper, whose Irish language diary recorded the life of the town he called Callain an Chlampair – “Callan of the Ructions” in great detail between 1827 and 1835, a time of extreme poverty.
Other famous natives of Callan include James Hoban (1762), architect of the White House in Washington. DC; Fenian poet and journalist John Locke (1847 – 1889); the emigrant ancestors of Coca-Cola tycoon Asa Griggs Candler (1851 – 1929), artist Tony O’Malley and novelist / playwright Tom Kilroy.
In 2004, Neil Jordan filmed many of the scenes for his movie of Patrick McCabe‘s book Breakfast on Pluto in Callan.
Callan is connected by a very scenic stretch of the N76 to Killamery on ByRoute 3.
Ballaghtobin House is an exceptionally pleasant old Georgian house with lovely grounds providing friendly B&B accommodation on a working farm.
Next: Mullinahone (Co. Tipperary).
