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 nee ...

')St Mullin's
Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved 21 March 2013. is a village on the eastern bank of the

River Barrow The Barrow ( ga, An Bhearú) is a river in Ireland. It is one of 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 (120 mi), the second-longest ...

in the south of

County Carlow County Carlow ( ; ga, Contae Cheatharlach) is a Counties of Ireland, county located in the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region of Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Carlow is the List of Irish counties by ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It is less than 2 km off the R729

regional road The term regional road (or route) is used in a number of places to designate roads of more than purely ''local'' but less than ''national'' strategic importance in a country's highway network. It is used formally and officially in reference to: *R ...

History

The village is named after

Saint Moling Saint Mo Ling (614–697), also named Moling Luachra, was the second Bishop of Ferns The Bishop of Ferns () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the village of Ferns in County Wexford, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it r ...

(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 Gobán Saor was a highly skilled smith or architect in Irish history and legend. Gobban Saer (Gobban the Builder) is a figure regarded in Irish traditional lore as an architect of the seventh century, and popularly canonized as St. Gobban. T ...

", 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 ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to 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 s ...

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 ( ga, cros ard / ardchros, gd, crois àrd / àrd-chrois, cy, croes uchel / croes eglwysig) is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval traditi ...

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

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, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively eas ...

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 who 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

New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Ireland. It is located on the River Barrow, near the border with County Kilkenny, and is around northeast of Waterford. In 2016 it had a population of 8,040 people, making it t ...

. The horses and carts came down the tracks from the Blackstairs Mountains 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

The Old Grain Store CottagesSt Mullins Heritage Centre
{{County Carlow Towns and villages in County Carlow

History

River Barrow

See also

References

External links