What is recorded here
Indicated is a D-shaped enclosure on the eastern tip of Lullymore island in County Kildare, holding a smaller inner enclosure, a possible church, a graveyard and a rectangular southern enclosure. St. Erc, bishop of Lilcach and Slane, died there in 512, while The Gall from Lilcach died in 730 and Cuan, anchorite, in 748. Cross-inscribed stones, a bullaun and a lost holy well mark the site, and several stones were later moved into a 1798 memorial or museum. The bog still surrounds the island, preserving a place where worship, memory and survival depended on reading water, stone and sky.
According to Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 397), 'St. Erc, bishop of Lilcach (Lullymore) and Slane died 512. The Gall from Lilcach died 730; Cuan, anchorite, died 748.' At the E tip of Lullymore 'island', a sub-circular area (est. diam. c. 2000m) of higher ground in a broad expanse of bog, accessed via modern roads from the E and W, but previously connected to higher ground to the N and S by two toghers (KD012-004001- and KD012-007----). The monument comprises the poorly preserved remains of a large, roughly D-shaped enclosure (KD012-006001-) which contains a second, smaller, irregular-shaped enclosure (KD012-006002-), which itself contains a possible church site (KD012-0006004-) and a graveyard (KD012-006005-), and is abutted along the S by a third, rectangular enclosure (KD012-006003-), to the N of which lies a possible field system (KD012-006006-). There is also a bullaun (KD012-006007-) on the site, together with three cross-inscribed stones (KD012-006009-, KD012-006010- and KD012-006011-). Seven other cross-inscribed stones (KD012-010----, KD012-010001- to KD012-010005- and KD012-010008-) and two small crosses (KD012-010006- and KD012-010007-), originally in the graveyard, are now incorporated into a 1798 memorial c. 600m to the NW in Lullymore West. An eight cross-inscribed stone (KD012-020----), also from the graveyard, is now in the Bog of Allen Nature Centre Museum. An unlocated holy well (KD012-006008-) also appears to have been associated with the site. Visible on several aerial photographs (CUCAP APH 80 (1966), APH 83 (1966), AYM 5 (1969) and BGH 73 (1971)) (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 56). (Ó Drisceoil and Leigh 2017)
Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy
Date of upload: 10 June 2011
This monument is subject to a preservation order made under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 (PO no. 11/1972).
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
Places near here
Cross in Lullymore EastCross · 12 yd
Lullymore MonasteryArchaeological place · 60 yd
Lullymore Heritage ParkHeritage attraction · 1196 yd
Foran's WoodForest · 1291 yd
The Fairy BowerHeritage attraction · 1331 yd
Killina BogWood · 1.0 mi
Agar Bridgebridge · 2.4 mi
Kilmeague CastleRuins · 4.4 mi
Grand Canal WayVisitor information · 5.0 mi