Killeshin () is a village in

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on the R430 regional road. Killeshin is a small rural community situated five kilometres west of

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

town and overlooks the picturesque Barrow Valley. The

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

at the foot of Slievemargy, the hill above Killeshin, is the site of an early

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

. The village is in a

townland A townland (; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a traditional small land division used in Ireland and in the Western Isles of Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of medieval Gaelic origin, predating the Norman invasion, and mo ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of the same name.

Name

Killeshin derives its English name from the Irish ''Cill Uisean''. The place itself was named after one of the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

s of its famous monastery - Uisin or Uise. The place's name translates as "the Cell/church of Uise."

History

Killeshin was an important centre for learning and culture as early as the 6th or 7th century when a monastery was founded there by either St. Comgan or St. Diarmait. There are a number of references to Comgan and Diarmait in ''The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee'' (1905) which state: :''February 27 Feast of Comgan...Comgan son of Diarmait...'' :''July 8 Feast of Diarmait...Modimoc...Glenn Uissen...'' :''Index of persons - Comgan, son of Diarmait, feb 27, of Glenn Uissen...'' Killeshin or Gleann Uissen, was early known as a great scriptorium. In the

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' () or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' () are chronicles of Middle Ages, medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Genesis flood narrative, Deluge, dated as 2,242 Anno Mundi, years after crea ...

the stratum of

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

material of the 9th–11th centuries may have been originated at Killeshin. While some four kilometres north west lie the ruins of Sleaty – Sleibthe, home to reputedly the first bishop of Leinster – St.Fiacc (c418-498)

Hiberno-Romanesque architecture

Killeshin Church is located off the main Carlow-

Castlecomer Castlecomer (,Castlecomer/Caisleán an Chomair
Placenames Database of Ireland. 'castle at ...

road, adjacent to Killeshin village itself. The church at Killeshin is largely from the 12th century, although some parts show evidence of later rebuilding, including a late Gothic east window The ancient monastery was destroyed in the 11th century and all that remains is a beautifully carved 12th-century doorway: one of the finest examples of hiberno-

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

in Ireland. No trace remains of the 105 ft round tower believed to have once been the tallest in Ireland which stood next to the monastery, it was demolished by an 18th-century landowner who was afraid that the tower could collapse and injure his cattle. It is said that ten

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

can be seen from atop Slievemargy, the hill above Killeshin.

Public transport

Bus

From January 1st, 2023 Local Link route 897

Kilkenny Kilkenny ( , meaning 'church of Cainnech of Aghaboe, Cainnech'). is a city in County Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region and in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinst ...

Athy Athy ( ; ) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kil ...

serves the village several times daily. Until April 2019 the village was served by the Buggy Coaches

Castlecomer Castlecomer (,Castlecomer/Caisleán an Chomair
Placenames Database of Ireland. 'castle at ...

- Crettyard-

bus route with one journey into

in the morning and one back in the afternoon.
/ref> On Saturdays there were two journeys each way.

Rail

The nearest rail services may be accessed at Carlow railway station approximately 6 kilometres distant.

Sport

Killeshin GAA is the local

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

club. "Killeshin", a racehorse named after the village, competed in the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

steeplechase twice in the 1990s, finishing a remounted sixth in the

1998 Grand National The 1998 Grand National (known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 151st official renewal of the world-famous Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1998. The r ...

. There are a number of

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

spots in Ballyhide, and the River Barrow is nearby.

References

External links

"The Founding of Killeshin" - Rootsweb.ancestry.com
* {{County Laois Towns and villages in County Laois Townlands of County Laois Civil parishes of County Laois