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Irish Forgotten Places, 67 Castle Dawson, Maynooth (2026)

14/10/2026

This year Mayo stole the headlines by escaping the ‘curse’ that prevented them winning the All Ireland Football Championship for 75 years despite having some very good teams.
However they were not the first in Ireland to be ‘cursed’ to sporting disappointment.
In the early 600s the pioneering St Cronan of Roscrea and a group of followers came by river to boggy Lusmagh in Offaly. There was no one around where they landed so they tied up their boat and went searching. Some local people came across the boat and suspected the worst. Unannounced intruders were usually robbers. They chopped up Cronan's boat and used it for firewood.
When Cronan returned for the boat he was outraged. He cursed the people of Lusmagh and said they would never again win a hurling championship.
That ‘curse’ did not relent until 1989 when they won their one and only senior county title by one point.
However the Lusmagh people did not take it personally. Originally the parish was named Cill Mochonna (the Church of Mochonna) in honour of a little known saint but today the local church and school are happy to have Cronan as their patron.

Cronan must have stayed for a\ whle in Lusmagh. It is said he was a cousin of Mochonna and there are stories of ‘holy men’ visiting him there. A connection with the historic ‘Book of Dimma’ (now in Trinity College) is also claimed. Under Cronan’s direction it said to have been completed in 40 days, non-stop.

I spent some time at Lusmagh crossroads waiting to see if someone would appear who could guide me to traces of Mochonna or Cronan. When no one came I finally left my car there and set off in the direction of Cloghan Castle, said to stand on the original site of Mochonna’s foundation. I hoped no one would set the car alight in my absence as had happened to Cronan.

It was not far to the entrance of the Castle but the gates were firmly locked. Tall trees and a long driveway blocked sight of any building. Normans built the castle in 1203 and it is said to still be in good shape though not occupied.

I went on to nearby Kilmochonna (Cell of Mochonna) which despite its promising name is a functioning graveyard with the ruins of a church. There was no information board.

I left Lusmagh happy that my car had not been set alight in my absence and wishing them success in the Championship.
Photos: The Crossroads Signpost; Kilmochonna Cemetery; St Cronan (and St Brendan) in the local church.

30/09/2026

If I was going to live as a hermit I would be happy to build my cell next to the Velvet Strand at Portmarnock.
According to local lore, ‘There was a great saint named Marnóg living on Lambay Island. He had a little boat and he used to come over to where is now called Portmarnock. He had a little place for landing and the people called it Port’.
Lambay is now privately owned by the Baring bank family but much earlier St Columcille set up a monastic community there. Marnog (or Marnock) died in 625, 28 years after Columcille so maybe he had been a disciple. In the 16th Century his revered remains were disinterred and transferred to a specially-constructed chapel in St. Mary’s Abbey, Dublin.
The site of Marnock’s church is just off the beach but many nearby residents probably don’t know it exists. (I lived in the area for ten years without being aware of it.)
What remains is the remarkably large ruins of a 12th century church with great views over a golf course, the Velvet Strand and Lambay Island. Up to recently there also were a Holy Well and an Ogham Stone but they have disappeared. It is still a place to be and enjoy.
The Ogham Stone indicated an early date for the site and the well was a reminder that while ‘clerics of the desert’ like Marnock based their lives on following the Scriptural path they had no problem combining this with their ancestors’ reverence for the sacred in water and trees.
As usual locals wanted their dead to be buried in such surroundings and the relatively good state of the ruins may be because they include the grave of a member of the powerful Plunkett family.
In the 1930s the silence of Marnock’s Velvet Strand was disturbed. Its long stretch of firm sand served as the runway for two historic pioneering transatlantic flights.
The Australian Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew departed from there in the ‘Southern Cross’ tri-motor aircraft to complete a historic westbound transatlantic crossing to Newfoundland, Canada, and onwards to complete a round-the-world journey.
In 1932 the British pilot Jim Mollison took off from the same beach in a de Havilland Puss Moth named ‘Heart's Content’ to achieve the first solo westbound transatlantic flight, landing in New Brunswick, Canada.
Yet much remains of what attracted Marnock when he arrived on his ‘little boat’.
Does anyone know anything more about him? His name in Irish is ‘Mo-Ernin-Occ’, literally ‘Our Dear Ernin’ (the ‘mo-‘ being an affectionate term in the name of many early Irish saints).

Photos: The church above the beach; nearby Lambay Island; the Velvet Strand, the first Dublin Airport.

23/09/2026

AI informed me that there is a ruined medieval church at Cloney Graveyard in Kildare that had lost nearly all of its walls, leaving only a solitary stone doorway standing upright.
Further search told me that the doorway was a ‘Two-centred arch, formed from two stones curving to meet at a gentle point in a form commonly associated with Gothic ecclesiastical building in Ireland. Its survival here is quite remarkable given how little of the surrounding structure remains.’
I went to see it before it too disappeared. I was too late.
First I had to find the place. Some locals had never heard of it but two farmers who knew gave me instructions to turn left, then right, then left. That did not help. One of them saw me still searching and led me to the place. Part of the problem was that it was inside a farmyard.
Those who had seen it before me noted a curious D-shaped enclosure, typical of early Irish monasteries and indicating it once was more than a graveyard. All that remained for me to see was a raised area with graves, some recently tended. There was also a plastic chair where you could sit and wonder where the arch had been.
The first to live there was Baodan, a Kerry man with links to early monastic foundations in Wicklow, Glendalough and Dublin. He was one of the early pioneers, setting up communities in rural Leinster. The Annals note that he died in the presence of St Cronan of Roscrea at Lusmagh around 630.
A church obviously survived at Cloney (until recently) despite the presence of Vikings in the neighbourhood. In 837 the Vikings started moving up the rivers of Ireland and the Barrow (Ireland’s second longest river) proved a convenient passageway into the island’s heartland.
To extend their raiding season they built Longport bases from 844 and one of the few inland examples is at Dunrally on the Barrow just beside Cloney. In 860 the Longport was destroyed by Dinnediadh, the local Irish King, but Viking raids on the river continued into the following century.
We do not know how Coney managed to survive or why it was finally abandoned. A grave marker there dates from the 18th century. It seems the arched doorway had survived until recently.
Does anyone know why Cloney arch suddenly disappeared?
In its heyday, and even in its ruined state, it was a doorway into what makes us who we are today.
Photos: The raised mound, near where the Vikings landed, a modern touch.

16/09/2026

Kilberry near Athy is between the Bog of Allen and the River Barrow but you could pass through without seeing either or even noticing Kilberry itself.
There is no pub, shop or cafe. Its history is in its fields and in one of those is old Kilberry church, more imposing than you might expect.
What caught my eye was its tall and sturdy tower. Obviously intended for more than a bell. What is its story?
All that is recorded of Baire who gives Kilberry (‘Cell of Baire’) its name is that he died around the year 630. Anything he built is long gone.
The tower is a clue to what happened later. The ruin is from an abbey of the Knights Hospitallers (of Crusades fame) built on Baire’s site. Because of their Norman origins part of their role in Ireland was to help protect the Pale around Dublin. Hence strong walls and a tower.
However Kilberry is unusual. In an 1837 Ordinance Survey map it is marked as a ‘nunnery’. Had the Hospitallers female as well as male members?
The Hospitallers were founded during the Crusades and invited women to join in taking care of the sick and wounded. The women had their own ‘nunnery’ some distance from the men to avoid any improper mixing. Those involved, both men and women, would have been of Norman descent.
Kilberry is the first example of such a ‘nunnery’ I had seen in Ireland.
From the time of St Brigid communities of women dedicated to personal improvement and service to others were not uncommon in Ireland. They were also spiritual guides and educated foster children of promise. This tradition continued until the Normans came with more strictly regulated and structured Orders. The new monastic style gradually replaced the old Irish way in the name of progress and ‘reform’.
Today Kilberry is more known for its bogs. In 1947 a Peat Moss Factory was opened there to allow commercial activity in the bog to continue but environmental protests limited its use and its car park-sized loading areas are now empty. On the plus side the bog is now a popular habitat for wintering birds.
Now you can pass through Kilberry without noticing it. A revered hermit, Knight Hospitallers (women and men) and a peat industry have come and gone. Only its name remains unchanged, echoing part of our national story.

09/09/2026

Two men put Prosperous (in Kildare) on the map but they seem to have been forgotten.
The name of the town is itself unusual. Unlike other places in Ireland where names go back to an early saint, Prosperous got its name from Industrial Age optimism.
Robert Brooke, born in Cavan, entered the service of the East India Company in 1764 as a cadet aged 20. He rose in rank during the Mahratta Wars but bad health forced him to return to Ireland in 1775.
Back on his estate in Kildare he was inspired by the Manchester manufacturing revolution to transform his part of Ireland into a factory town. Despite a lack of business and cotton experience he optimistically named it ’Prosperous’.
By 1783 there were 200 houses there and a work force of 5000. Suddenly he was Ireland’s largest cotton manufacturer. Eventually poor management and heavy debts caught up with him. In 1786 he was forced to hand over control to trustees and returned to serve the East India Company. He became Governor of St Helena and later in South Africa fought the Dutch. He retired to Bath where he died in 1811.
The town survived and was important enough to be garrisoned with British military. This ended in 1798 when a United Irishmen force attacked the town in the ‘Battle of Prosperous’. It is one of the few victories for the rebels.
A report in 1837 described Prosperous as ‘Little more than a pile of ruins in a low marshy spot surrounded by bogs’.
In today’s reviving Prosperous I could find no statue or public acknowledgement of Sir Robert Brooke. I had similar difficulty tracing an earlier man who had made an impression there long before there was a town.
His name was Farnan. It is said he was the son of Aengus who came from Scotland. That would mean he was from the pioneering era when fellow-Celts came across the water to revolutionise the Irish world view.
The most popular story about Farnan is associated with his well which people still visit. It is said that those who have a strong attachment to alcohol would lose it after drinking the well water. Some wonder if this says something about the saint himself.
If St Farnan is remembered today in Prosperous it is because of the well. The ancient cemetery beside it has the typical circular walls of a monastic enclosure and early Christian cross slabs have been found there. It is even considered one of the best surviving examples of an early Christian establishment in Kildare. I spent most of an hour looking for an entrance or even getting a glimpse of it. It is securely fenced in and open to the public only on the Pattern Day, 12 June.
Today Prosperous is reviving as Dublin reaches out into the countryside. Its broad and long main street is unusually quiet and hints of better days. There are few shops and the older houses look like working-class homes rather than the residences of bankers or administrators. The only reference to Farnan in the town is his name on the local Post-primary School.
The soldier and industrialist Sir Robert Brooke and St Farnan of Scottish descent both had plans for transforming the Prosperous area. Did I miss any appreciation of their efforts there?

02/09/2026

It is not often that I go to a 5-Star Golf Resort like Kilkea Castle to find a 5th century Irish saint.
However the name Kilkea shows the place was first occupied by St Kea (‘Cell of Kea’). The Castle part is a reminder that it was a stronghold of the Fitzgeralds who ‘ruled’ Ireland on behalf of the English Crown for over 350 years.
Like a number of ‘more Irish than the Irish’ Norman-Irish families the Fitzgeralds survived the ups-and-down of history by managing to serve two traditions, the British and the Irish.
They sided with the British Crown in major conflicts until their temporary head, young Silken Thomas, rushed into a rebellion against Henry Vlll in 1534 and lost nearly all they owned.
They eventually recovered and in the 17th century British Civil War sided with the king, Charles l. The Irish were also part of the Confederation of Kilkenny and Kilkea Castle hosted the Papal Legate Archbishop Rincuccini when he was encouraging the Irish parties to continue their struggle.
The widow of the 14th Earl of Kildare (a Fitzgerald) leased Kilkea Castle to the Jesuits in 1634 and their base was there until 1646 when the tides of war changed.
Today as you enter the castle grounds you are greeted by a statue of St Kea, carved from a tree trunk. He has not been completely forgotten.
The Fitzgeralds turned St Kea’s church there into their family burial place and their graves survive among the ruins, within chipping range of the golf course.
St Kea is more correctly known as Caoidh but it was easier to pronounce as Kea or Kay. He is also associated with Inishbeg in Wexford harbour and Donadea church (in my local Donadea Forest Park). Living around the time of St Patrick, he was one of the pioneers who moved around, setting up small outpost of Christianity across the country.
Like many of the great Irish landlords the social power of the Fitzgeralds declined in the 19th century and they had to sell their estates. Interesting, their two main centres, Maynooth and Kilkea, both retain their ‘nobility’ as 5-star golf resorts.
The Old Cemetery at Kilkea is a jumble of walls and graves, hidden by trees.
Nearby the wooden statue of a rugged St Kea continues to greet guests. Arriving golfers may wondered how he managed to have gained entrance.

Photos: St Kea, the Castle, the church and graves.

26/08/2026

When I read how Samthann of Clonbroney responded to Maelruan, the up-coming star of Tallaght Monastery, I had to see the place where she lived.
The story is recorded in the 8th century manuscript, ‘The Monastery of Tallaght’, Maelruan’s base. Here is a transliteration.
There was a monk in Munster in the time of Samthann who carried greetings from her to the ‘Sons of Life’ (Celi De followers) in the country. Once she called him to carry a message and bound him not to change the wording in any way.
‘Say to Maelruan,’ she said, ‘that I have the greatest respect for him among the “clerics of the Desert” (ie in the Desert Fathers and Mothers’ tradition) and ask him whether he accepts women as soul–friends.’
(A soul-friend or anam cara in the Celtic tradition is a religious companion who understands you completely, supports your spiritual growth and accepts you as you are.)
The monk took the message to Maelruan and when he heard Samthann’s high opinion of him he felt honoured. When asked whether he would accept Samthann’s soul-friendship, he replied, ‘Tell her I would seek counsel from her’.
The messenger told this to Samthann and she said, ‘Indeed, something will come of that youth’. But then she drew her brooch out of her mantle and stuck it into her cheek. No blood came out. Finally a drop of water came out. She put it on her nail and said, ‘As long as there is this much liquid in his body let him bestow no friendship nor confidence upon womankind.’
This reply must have given Maelruan a jolt because the story is recorded in the Book of Tallaght. He went on to become a leader of the Celi De movement keeping the spirit of the Desert Fathers & Mothers alive in Ireland.
What I found when visiting Clonbroney was disappointing. The community there had existed from St Patrick’s time. According to the 9th century ‘Tripartite Life’, at Granard St Patrick ‘blessed the veil’ of the two sisters who set up the community at Clonbroney, probably the first for women in Ireland.
Over two centuries later Samthann was a member and so highly regarded that her ‘Life’ was recorded in Latin late in the 8th century.
Today there is nothing in Clonbroney to remind us of its founders or Samthann. The only hints of their presence are in a road sign and Samthann’s name on the local national school.
I wonder if the school’s pupils know about Samthann’s message to Maelruan and what they would make of it.
Despite its history and significance this very Irish site is the most neglected I have seen in Ireland.
Photos: Clonbroney today, the Road Sign, the School.

19/08/2026

Granard’s historical claim goes back to 236 BC. Does that make it Ireland’s oldest town?
Mentioned in the ancient epic, the Táin Bó Cuailgne, it is one of the places where Queen Medb and her army stopped on their way to capture the Brown Bull of Cooley. The ‘Tain Trail’ is still signposted around the town.
When St Patrick came to the territory of Tethbha (now Longford) he was given land near where Granard now stands. Patrick left Guessach, the son of Milchu, as bishop of the locality. Milchu had been Patrick’s slave-master.
According to the 9th century ‘Tripartite Life’, when Patrick returned to Ireland one of his first acts was to head north to seek a reconciliation with Milchu.
The former slave owner could not accept that a servant had anything to teach him and rather than meet killed himself by burning his house down around him.
His son Guessach and two daughters however had known Patrick from growing up together and joined him on his missionary travels. At Granard when Patrick made Guessach bishop he ‘gave the veil’ to the two sisters making them, probably, the first formal Religious Women or nuns, in Ireland.
However where Granard stands today is not the original site. A mile away on another hill is Granardkille where a church, monastery and town had developed. Edward Bruce (brother of Robert) burnt the town down in 1315 and rather than rebuild it the people moved to greater security under the great Motte of nearby Granard Hill. A town grew beside the hill fort which had been strengthened by the Normans in 1199. Today it is still one of the best examples of a motte-and-bailey in the country.
After scrambling up the sides of the impressive Motte and admiring its commanding view of the countryside, I set out to see what remained of the original town, Granardkille.
Today there is no sign. A graveyard marks where Bishop Guessach’s church stood. I looked among the well-tended graves for traces of an old building but had to settle for speculative photos.
Milchu’s two daughters moved on to Clonbroney, ten mile away. The place name means ’Meadow of Broney’ but Milchu’s daughters were said to be both named Eimer. Who was Broney? Was there an earlier female saint there? If so, the two sisters were not the first in Ireland. (Such puzzles come up during a visit. I discovered later that Broney was a name of one of the sisters. They couldn’t call both Eimer all the time!)
We know that the community of Women Religious that started there survived until 1163. In the 8th century one of its members was a nationally famous spiritual guide (Anam Cara). Her ‘Life’ was recorded in Latin shortly after her death in 739.
Her name is Samthann and I was interested in her correspondence with Maelruan of Tallaght. He was an up-and-coming member of the Celi De movement trying to preserve the spirit of the early Desert Fathers & Mothers tradition in the Irish Church. Her message to the famous Maelruan shows a rare spirit of independence and confidence.
More on her and Clonbroney next time.

Photos: Part of the Motte, site of Granardkille, remains of old church?

12/08/2026

Two families in Stradbally living centuries apart, one famous for its historic manuscripts and the other for ‘Electric Picnic’, were brought together in an unexpected way in 1990.
From the time of his arrival in Ireland in 1564 to occupy 2000 acres of land at Stradbally seized from the O’Mores, the soldier and planter Francis Cosby was fighting for his family’s survival. He is still remembered for the Massacre of Mullaghmast in 1577 where he arranged the slaughter of 100-400 O’More leaders whom he had invited for negotiations.
In the years that followed the family prospered at Stradbally, loyal to the English Throne. They took over the old church at nearby Oughaval for their family vault. Francis’s body is not there. It lies in the Wicklow hills where he died fighting the Irish at the 1580 battle of Glenmalure.
The Cosbys continued to supply soldiers and administers for England, remaining staunchly Protestant. I saw what this meant for their Catholic tenants when I came across a Mass Rock in Oughaval Woods, just outside the Cosby demesne. It dates from Penal Times (1691-1727) when the Catholics of Stradbally had to go there secretly to celebrate their faith out of sight of their landlord.
The situation eased in 1796 when Admiral Philipps Cosby, a serving naval officer, granted a lease for a Catholic place of worship in the town.
The family remained Church of Ireland until unexpectedly in 1990 their then head, Adrian Cosby, was impressed by a family he knew and joined the Greek Orthodox Church. He built a domed Russian Orthodox-style church in the town and named it ‘St Colman of Oughaval’. Was it a coincidence?
The Cosby family vaults at Oughaval stand on the 6th century site of Colman Maca Laoighse’s monastic community. Daily life in Colman’s monastic ‘family’ faithfully followed the ‘Desert Fathers’ spiritual and scholastic tradition dominant in Ireland between 500 and 1100.
Among the famous manuscripts it produced was the ‘Book of Leinster’, now in Trinity College Dublin. It contains the oldest version of the epic Ulster Cycle tale, ‘The Cattle Raid of Cooley’.
The Orthodox Churches also faithfully follow the ‘Desert Fathers’ tradition. They differ only in cultural preferences. While the Orthodox treasure their icons, the Irish continued to use natural symbols and practices to approach the sacred. In the ‘holy space’ beside the Mass Rock in Oughaval Wood you will find a ‘sacred tree’, complete with fragments of prayer cloths.
Did Adrian Cosby see the connection between Oughaval and the Orthodox Church when he named his church ‘St Colman of Oughaval’?

St Colman of Oughaval is celebrated in the Orthodox calendar on 15 May.

Photos: The Mass Rock, the Demesne back gate, the Sacred Tree.

05/08/2026

A rocky mound outside Stradbally attracted visitors long before ‘the ultimate rock n’ roll circus’ (‘Electric Picnic’) came to town.
Is the crumbling building there a fort or a church or both? Go inside and its religious function becomes obvious but you could still spend an hour wandering around trying to make sense of its layout.
The confusion is due to the local Cosby landlords who adopted the old church there for their ancestral vaults.
In 1565 Francis Cosby had been granted 2,000 acres at Stradbally for military services in Europe. The lands of Laois and Offaly had been confiscated by the English Crown to reward the military and to secure it from it hereditary owners, the O’More clan. Francis benefitted from both.
The rest of his life was spent struggling with the O’Mores. An uneasy coexistence ended in 1577 when Francis invited the O’More leaders for negotiations at Mullaghmast ring fort and massacred from 100 to 400 of them.
At the age of 70 he joined Lord Deputy Arthur Grey in an attack on O’More allies, the O’Byrnes of Wicklow. He was killed in the ensuing Battle of Glenmalure, August 1580.
The family prospered however and amassed land around Stadbally. They took over the ancient church at Oughaval for their family vaults, adding a chancel and a warren of nooks for their tombs.
Francis’ remains are not there, they lie in the hills of Glenmalure.
In more recent times the Cosbys encountered financial difficulties and leased land for the annual ‘Electric Picnic’, ‘Ireland’s largest gathering of music & arts’. It was a striking break with their history but long before the Cosbys came Stradbally had been famous for its art, whatever about music.
In the 6th century a young pilgrim-scholar, Colman mac Ua Laoighse, founded a monastic school on the site of the Oughaval ruins. He had studied on the Scottish island of Iona under the famous Columcille and on his way home had visited the school at Clonenagh run by the scholarly Fintan. Fintan was noted for living on ‘bread of woody barley and clayey water of clay’ and his community was not allowed to own even one cow.
Colman’s school, however, was to become known for scholarship. Today its Lebor na Nuachongbála, Book of Oughaval, also known as The Book of Leinster, can be seen in Trinity College Dublin. It includes the oldest version of the epic Ulster Cycle tale, Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley). Also the Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions), tracing the earliest days of Irish history.
One ‘family’ of Oughaval/Stradbally helped preserve Irish self-awareness with it invaluable manuscripts and a later ‘family’ contributes to Irish life with ‘Electric Picnic’. In 1990 the two ‘families’ came together in unlikely circumstances. More on that next time.

Irish Forgotten Places

14/10/2026

30/09/2026

23/09/2026

16/09/2026

09/09/2026

02/09/2026

26/08/2026

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