In his fifth letter O'Donovan reports on the history of Killeigh. He refers to it as the burial place of the O'Connors, chiefs of Offaly, a burial place adopted by O'Connor Morris of Mount Pleasent.

ORDNANCE SURVEY LETTERS KING'S COUNTY

[ Letter no. 5 from John O'Donovan ]

Tullamore,
December 28th 1837.

Dear Sir,

Today I visited Killeigh with a view to identify it with the Cill-Acha Droma Foda of the Annals. It lies in the Barony of Geshill, about four and a half miles to the south of Tullamore.

An ancient Abbey was erected here in the sixth century by St. Sincheal, the son of Ceanannan, who died in the year 548, but of this ancient Abbey there are now no remains, not a vestige.

In 1393 O'Conor Faly erected a Monastery at Kill-Achaidh for Friars of the Order of St. Francis (4 Masters). A part of one wall of this modern Abbey is still standing, but one could form no idea from it of the form or extent of the house.. ...

According to Allemand (who is a very bad authority) a Nunnery was founded here by the family of Warren soon after the arrival of the English, for Nuns of the Order of St. Augustin. This may be true, for the Four Masters record, at the year 1447, that two famous and beautiful ladies, Finola, the daughter of O'Conor Faly, and Margaret, the daughter of O'Carroll "retired from this transitory world (life) to prepare for life eternal, and assumed 'the yoke' of piety and devotion in the Monastery of Kill-Achaidh."

The ruins of this Nunnery are now pointed out at the Protestant Church but I am of opinion that they are the ruins of the Abbey Church to which, perhaps, the Nunnery was attached, as the cemetery of the noble families of the district are to be seen adjoining them.

  1. The burial place of the O'Duns, Chiefs of Doohy-Regan, lies very near the old wall, with a gravestone exhibiting, elaborately sculptured, their arms and an inscription, so effaced that I could not read it.
  2. The tomb of O'Conor Faly, with a rough marble slab exhibiting a long inscription in Latin, but so injured that I could not spare time to decipher the entire of it.

    I could not discover any date. Perhaps Mr. Petrie has a perfect copy of this inscription. I was told that several had copied it before the stone was injured.

    O'Connor of Mount Pleasant was buried under this flag and I am told that he died without male issue and that a distant relative of his will come in for all the property which he left.

  3. The tomb of the Lords of Clanmaliere, with this short and very modest inscription:-

    "Here lyeth the body of Maximilian O'Dempsey, Lord Viscount Clanmaleere, who departed the 30th of November, Anno Domini 1690."
    My opinion is that this inscription was written by Maximilian's poor relatives after they had lost all their pride (Diomas) and property.

  4. The burial place of O'Molloy, with a long and foolish epitaph in English in praise of John Molloy (Mac Philip) who deceased "on the ninth day of May, 1676."

There are no tombs or graveyard attached to the ruin of the old Abbey of Killeagh and it is highly probable that the Abbey Church and the Nunnery both stood within the present Churchyard. The oldest man in the village told me that the old wall adjoining the modern Church is believed to be a part of the Nunnery.

Nine holy wells are to be seen near the Village of Killeagh but their names are lost. The oldest men of the neighbourhood told me that they bore the name of the Patron Saint only. If this can be depended upon, we should style them "St. Sincheall's Wells" but they are now always locally called Killeagh Holy Wells. They were, not long since, resorted to for the cure of various diseases, but the natives are now getting (becoming) too sensible etc.

Of the signification of Kill-Achaidh, Droma Foda.

Two places of the name Cill Achaidh are mentioned by the Irish Annalists as Ecclesiastical Establishments, of which one, according to Colgan, is situate in the eastern Breifny, the other in Ofalia. The latter is sacred to St. Sincheall and is always distinguished from the former by the addition Droma Foda i.e., of the Long Ridge. Achadh Droma Foda signifies the Field of the Long Ridge, and Cill was prefixed after St. Sincheall had placed his Church there. Cill Achaidh Droma Foda signifies "the Church of the Field of the Long Ridge" a name truly descriptive of the locality, for a remarkably long, low Drum or rising ground runs to the southwest, immediately over the village.

The entire of Ofalia, from Slieve Bloom to the Hill of Allen and from Cruachain to the sugar loaves near the Great Heath, is a plain nearly as level as the surface of a tranquil lake and this Drom-Foda, though not high, becomes a very remarkable feature in such a plain.

That part of Ofalia lying to the north of Mount Mellick is now deluged by the Barrow for miles in every direction and it is now impossible to pass through some parts of the Bog of Allen.

Your obedient servant,
John O'Donovan.