Borris House
Borris – An Bhuiríos – Burgage Land Borris is a granite, Georgian village, full of charm and heritage, situated in the fertile valley of the River Barrow, below the gentle curve of the Blackstairs Mountains. In the centre of the village is Borris House, which dates to the eighteenth century and stands on the site of a late medieval castle. The house is also the ancestral home of the MacMurrough Kavanagh family, who trace their descent from the MacMurrough Kings of Leinster. In the early nineteenth century the Kavanagh family adopted the Protestant religion and built a private chapel. This chapel is a three-bay single-cell church built in the Tudor Revival style, c.1820. Now detached, it was connected to the house up until the 1950s. Opening times: May - end August Tuesday - Thursday 12 - 4 p.m.For other opening days please check website. On all other dates tour of the house can be arranged by appointment for groups only by telephoning 059-9771884. Lunch and/or tea can be provided for visiting groups with prior notice. Admission: Fee applies, check website for further details. Parking: Yes
Sacred Heart Catholic Church
The site of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in the village of Borris was provided by the MacMurrough Kavanagh family. It is a large, T-plan, barn-church built in 1820. The stained-glass window over the main altar depicts the crucifixion with Saints Fortchern, Brigid and Fiachra underneath.Opening times: 7 a.m. - 6.30 p.m. daily.Admission: FreeParking: Yes
The Catholic Girls School
The Catholic Girls School is a two-storied, five-bay building which dates to 1832. It has an elaborate Tudor-Gothic revival façade with crenellated turrets on the corners. The main feature is a slender, gabled, three-stage tower with an open lantern on top flanked by projecting porches. The tower is believed to be the work of Thomas Cobden. The building now houses the local library.
St. Laserian’s Catholic Church
St. Laserian’s Catholic Church is a large T barn building with a date stone of 1793, although the present structure probably dates from 1830.In the churchyard you can see a large replica of a nineteenth-century high cross erected by Patrick Francis Moran to commemorate his parents.Patrick Francis Moran was born in Leighlinbridge in 1830 and attended school at Ballinabranagh (see St. Patrick’s Trail). He was orphaned at age eleven whereupon he was taken to Rome by his uncle, Paul Cullen, who was Rector of the Irish College there. Moran was granted his doctorate at the age of 22 and ordained one year later. He returned to Ireland in 1866 and was appointed Bishop of Ossory in 1872. He spent 12 years in Kilkenny before moving to Australia to take up the position of Archbishop of Sydney. He became a Cardinal in 1885 and spent the rest of his career in Australia. When he died in 1911 at the age of 81, a quarter of a million people witnessed his funeral procession through the centre of Sydney. He is buried in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney, a church built by John Therry, a Carlow College graduate. Both their graves can be seen in the crypt of Sydney Cathedral.Opening times: daily, daylight hoursAdmission: FreeParking: Yes
Lorum Church of Ireland Church
Evidence of three different churches can be found on the site at Lorum. The nineteenth-century seven-bay church stands on elevated ground in a striking setting about 3.5 km from the River Barrow. It was built about 1838 to the design of Frederick Darley who also designed the gate piers which reflect the detailing of the church. Close by are the remains of an eighteenth-century church while to the south and east of this building are the barely discernible traces of a much earlier church. There was a monastic settlement in the area associated with St. Laserian to whom a nearby well is dedicated (see St. Laserian’s Trail). Early nineteenth-century sources record the presence of a ‘steeple’ at this site which may indicate the former presence of a round tower. The base of a high cross lies a few paces south of the eighteenth century building.Opening times:10.15 a.m. - 12.30 p.m. or by appointment. T: 087-2270929/059-9775179Admission: FreeParking: Yes
Templemoling Cemetery
This peaceful site, in a beautiful landscape setting and enclosed by a well defined circular hedge contains the ephemeral remains of an early church site associated with St. Moling. One can also find here a stone reputed to show the footprint of St. Finian. When one visits the site it is easy to understand why early Christians would have drawn spiritual solace from this place of isolated contemplation. The raised, rubble-strewn area in the centre may preserve the outline of a rectangular church. The modern cross and altar demonstrate that the spiritual ethos of the site is appreciated into the twenty-first century.Open: daily, Daylight hoursAdmission: Free
St Fortiarnan's Church
Against the backdrop of the Blackstairs Mountains stand the remains of this diminutive rectangular church which dates back to the tenth or eleventh century. It is testament to the building skills of these early stone masons that all four walls are still intact almost one thousand years after they were first built. Known as the ‘white church’, it is associated with St. Fortiarnán (Fortchern) who was a disciple of St. Loman of Trim, one of the companions of St. Patrick. Fortiarnán left his native Meath and travelled down to the kingdom of Uí Dróna where he founded a monastic community at Killoughternane. St. Fortiarnán’s monastery has been described as one of the earliest missionary schools in Ireland and among those who studied here was St. Finian. After Killoughternane, Finian went to St. David’s monastery in Wales before returning to found the famous monastery at Clonard, Co. Meath.Open: Daily, Daylight hoursAdmission: FreeParking: Yes
St Fortiarnan's Holy Well
St. Fortiarnán’s Holy Well in the field across the road from the church has been recently restored and has been visited through the centuries. According to local history, “there was more than a newspaper could hold of cures of people who came from county Wexford across the mountains”. In the nineteenth century a local woman cleaning the well found a chalice and paten. These artefacts date to the late sixteenth century and may have been hidden in penal times by a priest who was celebrating open-air masses nearby.
St Mullins Ecclesiastical Ruins
This important monastery was founded by St. Moling in the seventh century and it had close links with Ferns in Co. Wexford and Glendalough in Co. Wicklow. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the earliest of times and St. Moling’s Well is still venerated for its powers of healing.The ecclesiastical ruins are situated in the back of the graveyard and they include five churches and the remains of a round tower. The monastery probably contained several high crosses but only the upper portion and base of one solid-wheeled cross remains. The cross shows a large figure of Christ.The Teampall Mór is the oldest church, parts of which may date from the tenth or eleventh century. South of the Teampall Mór lie the remains of the largest church, the ‘Abbey’, which is probably fifteenth century. The chancel retains its original altar and sedilia . To the east of the ‘Abbey’ is a tiny oratory of uncertain date, dedicated to St. James.To the south are two further structures, probably post-medieval in date. The larger, a domestic building with a fireplace also has an unusual diamond shaped window in the east wall. The smaller building now functions as a mausoleum for the Kavanagh family (descendants of the Mac Murchada Kings of Leinster). Here can be seen a modest memorial to King Art Mac Murchada Caomhánach who was poisoned at New Ross in 1417. It is claimed that such was the popularity of Art that as his body arrived in St. Mullins for burial, the funeral procession was still leaving the town of New Ross, some 15km away.The churchyard lies in the shadow of the Anglo-Norman motte and contains a fascinating collection of eighteenth and nineteenth-century gravestones. During penal times, mass was said at the penal altar in the centre of the graveyard. Over the altar is an aperture through which a warning could be communicated to the priest from a watcher positioned on the motte.Each year on the Sunday before July 25th people gather in great numbers to celebrate mass at the Penal Altar, and remember the steadfast Catholic faith of their ancestors through difficult periods in Irish history. The eighth-century Book of Moling, which may have been produced in St Mullins is now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. It is a very significant illuminated manuscript.Opening times: Daily, daylight hours.Admission: FreeParking: YesSt. Mullins Heritage CentreAdmission: free, however donations greatly appreciated towards upkeep of the centre. Small charge applies to guided tours.
St Mullins Holy Well
The site has been a place of pilgrimage since medieval times and St. Moling’s Well is still venerated for its powers of healing. Friar Clyn, the Kilkenny chronicler reported that in 1349, while the Black Death was raging in the area, thousands of people made a pilgrimage to wade in the water of St. Moling’s Well.
Templenabo Medieval Church
On the outskirts of St. Mullins lie the remains of an early medieval church. This church is said to have been built in thanksgiving to St. Moling who freed the area of Ossory from paying a tax in cows, known as the Boroma tribute, to the High Kings of Ireland.This is also a site where unbaptised infants were buried in former times. An annual mass is celebrated here on June 17th. This tradition was first established by the local community in 1996, during a year long series of events to commemorate the 1300th anniversary of Moling’s death, and has continued since. Local children play an important role in the mass which honours St. Moling on his feast day, June 17th, and commemorates the unbaptised babies.Opening times: Daily, daylight hours Parking: Yes
Duiske Abbey
A popular boating centre on the River Barrow whose character reflects a bygone time when the town was an important focal point for commercial boats. One of Ireland’s finest Cistercian monasteries was founded here in 1204 by William Marshal who became Lord of Leinster following his marriage to Strongbow’s daughter Isabel de Clare. It was called Duiske Abbey from the stream that flows nearby. The church was restored in 1974-80 and consists of a nave and chancel with an aisle on each side. To truly imagine what the church must have been like when the monks lived here, take a look at the chancel , the crossing and the east windows. The church originally had aisles extending along the full length of the nave on the south and the north. There is an excellent model of the original monastic settlement in the interior of the church. Originally the monastery would have spread over some five acres. In the graveyard to the south of the chancel there are two small granite high crosses. These would have been important educational tools of the time, bearing stories of early biblical significance.Opening times: Daily 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. summer, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. winterAdmission: FreeParking: Yes
Ullard Church and High Cross
On the borders of counties Carlow and Kilkenny you will find the ruins of a monastery founded here in the seventh century by St. Fiachra. The remains consist of a twelfth-century Romanesque church and a high cross. The worn heads above the doorway are said to represent a meeting between St. Moling and St. Fiachra. The doorway has been tampered with over the years but it retains its attractive proportions and decorative style.Opening times: Daily, daylight hoursAdmission: FreeParking: Yes
