St Mullins (, formerly anglicised as ''Timoling'' or ''Tymoling'' - 'homestead of

Moling In the construction industry, moling is a trenchless method used to lay pipes. During the moling process, a pneumatically-driven machine known as a mole forces its way through the soil along the desired path of the pipe. Moling avoids the need ...

')St Mullin's
Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 21 March 2013. is a village,

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 ...

and

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 ...

on the eastern bank of the

River Barrow The Barrow () is a river in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters (Ireland), The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest of the three rivers and, at 192 km (12 ...

in the south of

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by area, second smallest and t ...

, Ireland. A smaller part of the civil parish is in

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. The village is north of

New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, on the River Barrow on the border with County Kilkenny, northeast of Waterford. In 2022, it had a population of 8,610, making it the fourth-largest t ...

, near the R729 road.

History

The village is named after

Saint Moling Saint Mo Ling (614–697), also named Moling Luachra, was the second Bishop of Ferns in Ireland and has been said to be "one of the four great prophets of Erin". He founded a monastery at St Mullin's, County Carlow. Also in the 7th century, St. ...

(or Mo Ling, 614–697), who founded a monastery there in the early 7th century. The monastery was said to have been built with the help of " Gobán Saor", the legendary Irish builder. In the 8th-century manuscript, known as "The Book of Mulling", there is a plan of the monastery - the earliest known plan of an Irish monastery - which shows four crosses inside and eight crosses outside the circular monastic wall. It is said that St Moling dug a mile-long watercourse with his own hands to power his mill, a task that took seven years. He became Bishop of Ferns, died in 697 and is buried at St Mullins. The St Moling watercourse is still there, but the original monastery was plundered by

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

s in 951 and was again burnt in 1138. An abbey was later built on the site. A 9th-century

high cross A high cross or standing cross (, , ) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors. Th ...

, showing the crucifixion and a Celtic spiral pattern, stands outside the remains of the abbey. There are also the remains of a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

and some domestic medieval buildings, including one that has an unusual diamond-shaped window. St Moling's Mill and St Moling's Well are closeby. St Mullins Graveyard and Monastic site

In Irish folklore, St. Mullins is said to be the place where Suibhne Geilt dies, after having been welcome in the monastery by Saint Moling himself.

River Barrow

As well as being visited by anglers, St Mullins is one of the stop-off points for pleasure barges and cruisers which transit the

. The building of the canal on the Barrow began here in 1750 and the Old Grain Store was built to store goods coming up the river from the sailing ships in

. The horses and carts came down the tracks from the

Blackstairs Mountains The Blackstairs Mountains () run roughly north/south along the border between County Carlow and County Wexford in Ireland. The highest peak is Mount Leinster with a total height of . Blackstairs Mountain is the second highest peak at . See ...

to gather their supplies and sell their goods for export. Horses were kept in the old stables to pull the barges up-river and the blacksmith was on hand to repair the barges and shoe the draught horses. By 1920, the Bolinder engine had arrived and with motorized barges the long serving horses were no longer needed. St Mullins is also the beginning and ending point for the Barrow Way long distance walk.

References

External links

St Mullins Heritage CentreHistory of the Kavanagh lineage of St. Mullins
{{County Carlow Towns and villages in County Carlow Townlands of County Carlow Civil parishes of County Carlow Civil parishes of County Wexford

History

River Barrow

See also

References

External links