Glenn Uisin | |
Monastery information | |
---|---|
Other names | Killushin, Glenn Ussen, Glenn Uissen, Glenn Uisen |
Order | Celtic Christianity |
Established | AD 545 |
Diocese | Leighlin |
People | |
Founder(s) | Saint Diarmait mac Siabairr |
Important associated figures | Saint Comgán |
Architecture | |
Status | Inactive |
Heritage designation | National Monument |
Style | Irish monastic, Romanesque |
Site | |
Location | Killeshin, County Laois |
Coordinates | 52°50′51″N7°00′05″W / 52.84738°N 7.00151°W |
Visible remains | Part of church (west and east gables; part of north elevation) |
Public access | yes |
Official name | Killeshin |
Reference no. | 115 [1] |
Killeshin Church is a 12th-century Romanesque church and National Monument located in County Laois, Ireland.
Killeshin Church is located near Killeshin village, on the south bank of the Fushoge River (a tributary of the Barrow), about 5 km (3 mi) west of Carlow town. A ringfort, known as Killeshin moat, stands to the southeast.
A monastery was founded on the site c. AD 545 by Diarmait mac Siabairr, a member of the local Uí Bairrche ruling family. [2]
The monastery was plundered by Diarmait mac Máel na mBó in 1041; the dairthech (oak prayer house) was demolished, a hundred people taken away as slaves and 700 cattle also seized. This attack was a retaliation against the burning of Ferns by Murchadh mac Dunlaing and the murder of Domnall Remar (Donal the Fat, Diarmait's brother). [3] Killeshin was burned again in 1077, along with its yew trees.
None of this original monastery survives; a round tower once stood there but was torn down by the landowner in 1704. [4]
The church, built in the 12th century AD (probably in 1150–60), [5] is built of rubble masonry with dressed quoins and is particularly noted for its Romanesque archway, zoomorphic carvings and Scandinavian-influenced knotwork. There is also a granite font.
An inscription near the door reads ORAIT DO DIARMAIT RI LAGEN, Middle Irish for "a prayer for Diarmait, king of Leinster", referring to Diarmait Mac Murchada (r. 1126–71).
Leinster is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.
County Carlow is a county located in the Southern Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Carlow is the second smallest and the third least populous of Ireland's 32 traditional counties. Carlow County Council is the governing local authority.
Diarmait Mac Murchada, was King of Leinster in Ireland from 1127 to 1171. In 1167, he was deposed by the High King of Ireland, Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair. To recover his kingdom, Mac Murchada solicited help from King Henry II of England. His issue unresolved, he gained the military support of the Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, thus initiating the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland.
Clonmacnoise is a ruined monastery situated in County Offaly in Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon. Until the 9th century it had close associations with the kings of Connacht.
The Book of Leinster is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled c. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18. It was formerly known as the Lebor na Nuachongbála "Book of Nuachongbáil", a monastic site known today as Oughaval.
Osraige or Osraighe, Osraí, anglicized as Ossory, was a medieval Irish kingdom comprising what is now County Kilkenny and western County Laois, corresponding to the Diocese of Ossory. The home of the Osraige people, it existed from around the first century until the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century. It was ruled by the Dál Birn dynasty, whose medieval descendants assumed the surname Mac Giolla Phádraig.
The Uí Ceinselaig, from the Old Irish "grandsons of Cennsalach", are an Irish dynasty of Leinster who trace their descent from Énnae Cennsalach, a supposed contemporary of Niall of the Nine Hostages. Énda was said to be a grandson of Bressal Bélach and a first cousin of Dúnlaing mac Énda Niada, eponymous ancestor of the rival Uí Dúnlainge.
The Battle of Confey or Cenn Fuait was fought in Ireland in 917 between the Vikings of Dublin and the Irish King of Leinster, Augaire mac Ailella. It led to the recapture of Dublin by the Norse dynasty that had been expelled from the city fifteen years earlier by Augaire's predecessor, Cerball mac Muirecáin of Uí Fáeláin, and his ally Máel Finnia mac Flannacáin, the King of Brega.
Killeshin is a village in County Laois, Ireland on the R430 regional road. Killeshin is a small rural community situated five kilometres west of Carlow town and overlooks the picturesque Barrow Valley. The church at the foot of the Killeshin hills is the site of an early Christian monastery. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.
Carlow is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Ireland, 84 km (52 mi) from Dublin. At the 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the twelfth-largest urban center in Ireland.
Anmchad mac Con Cherca was king of Osraige, a kingdom largely situated in modern County Kilkenny and western County Laois and forming part of the kingdom and province of Munster in south and south-west Ireland. Anmchad was an active ruler, who mounted repeated campaigns against his eastern neighbours in Leinster.
MacGorman, also known as McGorman, Gorman, or O'Gorman, is an Irish Gaelic clan based most prominently in what is today County Clare. The paternal ancestors of the clan are of the Laigin and emerged in what is today County Waterford. As leaders of the Uí Bairrche, they competed with the Uí Cheinnselaig in the 5th century for the Kingship of Leinster, ultimately losing out in that specific arena, but holding on to significant lands in the Leinster area.
Uí Bairrche was an Irish kin-based group that originally held lands in the south of the ancient province of Leinster. Another south Leinster kin group associated with the Uí Bairrche were groups of the Fothairt. The south of Leinster was dominated by the Uí Chennselaig in the 8th century. Uí Bairrche held lands around Carlow, however Uí Chennselaig expansion split the kindred. The result was that one Uí Bairrche branch persevered in the Barrow valley; and another was forced to move south towards the Wexford coast.
Abbán of Corbmaic, also Eibbán or Moabba, was a saint and abbot. He is associated, first and foremost, with the Mag Arnaide. His order was, however, also connected to other churches elsewhere in Ireland, notably that of his alleged sister Gobnait.
Saint Gobhan has long been linked with the parish of Seagoe – recorded for instance as Teach dho-Ghobha – in County Armagh, Ireland.
Carlow is a barony in County Carlow, Ireland.
Baltinglass Abbey is a ruined medieval Cistercian abbey in Baltinglass, County Wicklow, Ireland. Founded by Diarmait Mac Murchada in 1148, the abbey was suppressed in 1536. It is today a National Monument.
Slievemargy is a barony in County Laois, Ireland.
St Saviour's Priory is a ruined Augustinian monastery in Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland.