1.It is hard to accent that man over 100 years later the determination continues. That said the Offaly County Council did a clean-up at Drumcullen some years ago which has improved the site. However, Drumcullen like sites at Durrow, Leamonaghan, Monasteroris, Srah, Ballycowan is deserving of the best conservation measurers available. Where local and national self respect failed the possibility of tourism francs or dollars may succeed in getting some attention for this wonderful and beautiful site.

John Healy wrote: "Perhaps the present may be a fitting opportunity to direst attention to the antiquities there standing [Drumcullen], in the hope that something may be done to prevent the demolition of a most interesting national monument - an event that is slowly but surely being accomplished by the removal of the stones of the old church on the occasion of each interment. Not many years ago there was a handsome doorway to be seen. Not a vestige of it now remains, though some carved stones are to be found scattered here and there through the graveyard. When one witnesses the wonderful things that have been done at Clonmacnoise it seems a pity that some attempt at restoration has not been made here also. Here, in pagan times, a light began to shine in the darkness which was to burn when the sacred fire of the Druids would be forgotten. The pagans chose for their sanctuaries the bleakest and most desolate spot on the summit of some lofty mountain - it was a beacon to be looked at from a distance but not approached. The Christian Church on the other hand, was down in the plain, and though at first a frail structure of wattles and clay differing but little from the cabins in which the ordinary inhabitants of the island resided, it was a centre towards which men were drawn and was the nucleus of a community that was in time to form a kind of ecclesiastical city. To the present day may be seen, beside Drumcullen Church, the remains of a large encampment of enclosure, surrounded by a deep fosse, reminding one of the similar remains at Seirkeiran, Rathlihen, Durrow, and other places. At one end of the rectangle is a high mound with flattened top, from whence an extensive view of the country could be obtained, and the approach of an enemy readily seen - a very necessary precaution in those days - all the more so as the river flowing close by formed the easily crossed boundary between two kingdoms; and, if its ancient name counts for anything, must have seen many a bloody conflict, for it was called the "Avoncara", or "Terrible River".

2. [Here Dr. Healy is referring to the Norman 12th or 13th century motte and bailey. The bailey or platform was bulldozed in 1976]. In the immediate neighbourhood are seven holy wells, still venerated by the peasantry - the remnants, perhaps, or a anti-christian superstition. They were, however, speedily appropriated by the Christians, and patron saints took the place of the tutelary deities that in olden times presided over the blessed waters. In this spot a monastery was founded as early as the sixth century by Saint Barind. It was therefore of the same age, or perhaps slightly older, than the neighbouring but more important foundations of Durrow and Rahan. Long previously, however, the Christian Church had been planted in the vicinity, for scarcely more than three miles away St. Kieran had located his see and planted the first bishopric in Ireland some years before the arrival of Saint Patrick. His successors continue an unbroken line to the present day as Bishops of Ossory. As to the event of the monastery established by Saint Barind we have no certain information, but we are told that when Saint Carthage and his community were compelled to leave Rahan and went from hence to Roscrea, they stayed a night and were entertained at Drumcullen, though they numbered as many as eight hundred and forty-seven. Of Saint Barind himself our information is but scanty. His memory is perpetuated in the name of the hill, Knockbarron, close at hand, and another name, Kilbarron, in the County Donegal, tells how widely at one time his fame had spread. had he lived in a later age, it is not a merely provincial reputation that would have been his, nor would his memorial have been only in the name of a hillock scarcely known beyond the parish in which it is situated. For he was not only a Saint, but a traveller and navigator, and his wanderings extended far beyond the limits within which ordinary travellers had kept themselves. In point of fact there is very good reason for believing that he anticipated by centuries the discoveries of Columbus, and had actually landed on the American continent. Here is the legend: He had in his monastery one Mernoc, who filled the responsible office of Almoner to the community. One day it was found that he had suddenly disappeared; and the next that was heard of him was that he was living all alone on an island on the western coast, and had already gained some reputation as a devout hermit. Later the hermit's cell was transformed into a monastery, and Mernoc was honoured by many visitors of all ranks, who came to be witnesses of his remarkable piety - among them his old superior, Barind. As the two friends were walking together on the shore Mernoc proposed that they should sail still further to the west, saying that in that direction was the land of promise, and that it was the abode destined for those who were to come after then in the last times words that have received a remarkable fulfilment in the vast numbers of our country men who have found for themselves a home in the far west. The invitation, backed up by the prophetic assurances of Mernoc, was accepted, and the two set sail with a number of followers. They were at sea for a very long time, and on their return they described the country they had visited as a large island, over which they travelled fifteen days without reaching the further shore. It was, they said, a land of plenty, where every plant hung with flowers, every tree with fruit - where the very stones looked precious. They would have remained there altogether, but that after their fortnight's travelling they came to a broad river, and as they were contemplation how it should be crossed, a vision appeared, and they were commanded to return to their own country, which accordingly they did, Saint Barind went back to Drumcullen and doubtless the story of his marvellous voyage became one of the wonders which were recounted when the good ecclesiastics of the district met together in friendly intercourse. Of those who were impelled by the narrative to become travellers themselves, only one account has come down to us, that of Barind's neighbour Saint Brendan, who also sailed to the west and met with adventures worthy of being set beside those of Sinbad himself. The establishment at Drumcullen increased in importance until it became a bishopric, and it is said to have continued as such for two centuries at least. Nothing remains now of the monastery and bishopric but the picturesque ruin of the Church standing by the river-side. Gnarled roots and branches of ivy force their way among the solid masonry, and the green leaves seem to cherish the old fabric in its desolation. There is enough, however, to show that the building was once of considerable extent, and was the work of several successive builders. An arches entrance originally existed at the south side close to the western gable, but this was subsequently built up, and within the church, extending from side to side an arched chamber or crypt was built against the western wall. The roof is in the form of a pointed arch, and not more than six or seven feet from the ground. There was neither window nor door, save the entrance communicated with the interior of the Church. A similar vault is to be seen in the ruined Church of Rathlihen near Mountbolus. A flight of narrow stone steps led to a chamber above this which was lighted by a small window. In lieu of the entrance that had built up another arched entrance was made in the south side, close to the partition which divided the partition which I have spoken from the Church. Close to the Church is a cylindrical stone, three feet in diameter and twenty inches high, pierced with a round hole of seven inches diameter. This was most probable the base of a wooden cross of crucifix. [Is this the base of a high cross?].

Resting on this, but not connected with it is a curious stone, like the base of a pillar. It is pierced with an aperture eight inches in diameter. It is broken into two unequal parts, but seems to be otherwise perfect. Near this, on the ground is what seems to be a grain rubber of quern, twenty-nine inches in diameter and very slightly hollowed. And this is all that remains! The saint, the bishopric, the monastery, have all passed away, and will soon be alike forgotten. The "Church of the Holly Ridge", that had once been the centre of so much life is now a crumbling ruin, and, unless something be done to arrest its further decay, will soon be only a name, and serve but to remind that man's best work is like himself mortal and that time conquers all things here below." Over a hundred years later Drumcullen is in an even more ruinous condition than it was in Rev Healy's time. A fragment of a high cross lies near the churchyard and was illustrated in Liam dePaor's essay on "The High Crosses of Tech Theille (Tihilly), Kinnitty and related sculpture" to be found in Rynne (ed.) Figures from the Past.

Kinnitty and Drumcullen deserve to be on your Sunday afternoon trail. The area has a wealth of historical remains.