Kilberry, Cill Bhearaigh, Co. Kildare

Cill Bhearaigh · Co. Kildare

A scattered Barrow-valley parish on the R417 north of Athy, where the name carries a lost saint and two ruined castles sit in the fields.

Kilberry is a scattered parish in south County Kildare, 4 km north of Athy on the R417, in the valley of the River Barrow. Cill Bhearaigh - the church of St Baire - is named for a saint who has all but vanished from the record. Like a lot of rural Kildare, it is more a townland with a church than a village with a centre: a Church of Ireland church on the road, a graveyard with a medieval ruin in it, farmhouses, and the flat green country of the Barrow lowlands running out to the river.

The history is in the fields rather than on a street. There were once an abbey, a nunnery and two castles in this small parish, and the names still cling to the farms - Abbey Farm, Kilberry Castle, Castlereedy. The Church of Ireland church beside the road, built in 1833, is a small, well-kept Gothic Revival building that is a record in stone of a once-prosperous Protestant population in the locality. The bigger Norman ruin, Rheban Castle, stands a short way west across the Barrow.

There is no pub, no shop, no cafe here, and the census flags Kilberry as one of the peripheral parts of the county that keeps losing people. None of that is a criticism. Kilberry is a quiet farming parish that supports itself on the land and has no reason to put on a show for travellers. Come for the church history, the two castle ruins, and the flat Barrow country, or use Athy down the road as your base and treat this as a half-hour detour. There is nothing wrong with deciding it is not worth the turn off the main road.

Population

400 (2016 census)

Founded

Medieval parish; Church of Ireland church built 1833

Coords

53.0333° N, 7.0178° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The name

Cill Bhearaigh - the church of St Baire.

Kil for church, berry from Baire, a saint about whom almost nothing survives. The old medieval church he was named for is now an ivy-covered ruin of nave and tower in the graveyard. The lineage of the place is in its name and not much else.

Stories & lore → 02 The river

The valley of the Barrow, 4 km north of Athy.

Flat working farmland on the east bank, the R417 running through it, the river itself a field or two to the west. Rheban Castle, a ruined Norman tower, stands across the water. The Barrow Way towpath picks up in Athy down the road.

Walks & outings → 03 The honest truth

No pub, no shop, no cafe. A parish, not a stop.

Kilberry is a townland and a civil parish with about 400 people scattered across it. The census people flag it as one of the parts of the county still losing population. There is nothing here that performs for a visitor, and that is the appeal if you want it.

Set expectations →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A saint who left only a name

St Baire and the old church

The placename Cill Bhearaigh breaks into kil, church, and berry, from Baire, the saint the original church was dedicated to. Almost nothing is recorded about him, which is common enough with the early Irish saints attached to small rural foundations. What survives is the ruin itself: the often ivy-covered remains of the nave and tower of the medieval church, standing in the graveyard with a south doorway and a gate arch dividing the ground. You can look up inside the partial tower. It is a quiet, unvisited ruin of the kind south Kildare is full of, the church that gave the parish its name long outliving any memory of why.

A vanished medieval cluster

The abbey, the nunnery and Kilberry Castle

The farm beside the old church is still called Abbey Farm, after a religious house linked to the Hospitallers of St John that later became a nunnery and appeared on the 1837 Ordnance Survey map. It once stood next to the church and beside Kilberry Castle, whose remains were absorbed into the farm buildings, and the abbey ruins themselves are virtually gone. A field to the north held the stump of a second castle, Castlereedy, once the seat of the La Rede family. The land was long the home of the Verschoyles. Three or four layers of medieval and post-medieval history, most of it now reduced to a farm name and a fragment of wall.

A Norman tower on the river

Rheban Castle across the Barrow

Rheban Castle stands on the west bank of the River Barrow, around 5 km northwest of Athy and a short way west of Kilberry. A stone castle was raised here by Richard de St Michael, baron of Reban, in the reign of John as Lord of Ireland, after the Norman invasion. The name is thought to come from riogh, king, and bawn, an enclosure. The O Mores of Laois took it in 1325; it passed to the FitzGeralds by marriage in 1424, was raided for treasure by Sean O Broin of the Glenmalure O Byrnes, and changed hands repeatedly through the Confederate Wars of the 1640s before falling into the ruin it has been ever since. It gives its name to the local barony and to Rheban GAA.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Kilberry church and graveyard The 1833 Church of Ireland church on the R417 and the medieval ruin in the graveyard are the heart of the parish. The old nave and tower are ivy-covered and roofless; the surrounding graveyard has cut-stone markers and a Gothic-style mausoleum gateway. Respect the working churchyard, mind the uneven ground, and do not climb on the ruin.

Short, on the roaddistance

20 minutestime

The Barrow Way from Athy Kilberry has no riverside path of its own, but the Barrow Way - the long-distance towpath trail - runs through Athy 4 km south, where the canal line meets the River Barrow proper. The Athy-to-Carlow stage is a flat 19 km past lifting bridges and old mills. Level ground, good for cycling too. Park in Athy and walk out along the river.

As far as you likedistance

Half a day or moretime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The Barrow lowlands green up and the light is good for the ruins. Quiet roads, working farmland, nobody about.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Long evenings make the church-and-castle loop and the Barrow Way easy. Use Athy as a base for food and a bed.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Low autumn sun on the old tower and the river is the best time to photograph the place. Underfoot is still dry enough.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days, flat exposed Barrow country, and the graveyard ground goes soft. There is nothing indoors here to retreat into, so pick your day.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Looking for a village centre

There is no street, no pub, no shop and no cafe in Kilberry. It is a townland and a civil parish of about 400 people, not a destination village. Do your eating and sleeping in Athy and treat Kilberry as a heritage detour.

Confusing it with Kilberry in Meath

There is another Kilberry near Navan in Co. Meath. This one is the Kildare parish on the R417 in the Barrow valley north of Athy. Check the county before you set the satnav.

Expecting Rheban Castle to be a visitor site

Rheban is a ruined Norman tower on private farmland by the river, not a managed attraction. View it from a respectful distance and do not assume access.

Getting there.

By car

Kilberry is on the R417 about 4 km north of Athy. From Dublin take the M9 to Athy, then the R417 north. Roadside parking only. It is a pass-through or a short detour off the Athy road, not a driving destination in itself.

By bus

No direct service to Kilberry. Athy, 4 km south, is the transport hub: Bus Eireann and Local Link routes serve the town, and it sits on the Dublin-Waterford rail line. Plan around Athy and travel the last stretch by car or on foot.

By train

The nearest station is Athy, on the Dublin Heuston to Waterford line. From the station it is a short drive or a long walk north on the R417 to reach the parish.

Next on the tour

Co. Kildare

Athy

Market town on the Barrow, 4 km south. The Shackleton Museum, a proper town centre, the lifting bridges, and where the Barrow Way joins the river. Your base for food and a bed.

Co. Kildare

Narraghmore

A ridge parish to the east with a 3rd-century assembly site at the Hill of Carmen and a community tearoom built into an old hardware shop.

Co. Kildare

Kilmead

A small crossroads settlement between Athy and Ballitore, more quiet south-Kildare farmland of the same kind.

Co. Kildare

Kildangan

North-east up the Barrow, a small village that quietly breeds Epsom Derby winners.