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KILLEIGH

CO. OFFALY · IE

Killeigh
Cill Aichidh, Co. Offaly

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 07 / 07

Cill Aichidh · Co. Offaly

A small village with an outsized history - a 6th-century monastery, an earthwork enclosure still legible in the fields, and the home green of Mick the Miller.

Killeigh is a small village - a hundred and eighty-odd people at the last count - eight kilometres south of Tullamore on the N80, with the Slieve Bloom Mountains rising in the distance to the south. You would drive through it in under a minute. That would be a mistake, because for its size Killeigh carries one of the longer histories in the midlands.

The Irish is Cill Aichidh, the church of the field, and the field is the point. St Sinchell is reputed to have founded a monastery here in the 6th century, with a school said to have held 150 monks. Augustinian nuns established a priory in the 12th century - a short stretch of wall near the community hall is all that is left of it. The Franciscans came around 1293 under O'Connor Faly, and their friary lasted until the dissolution in the late 1500s. The 17th-century Church of Ireland church in the middle of the village was built into part of what survived.

The thing most visitors miss is in the fields behind that church: the remains of a double-banked monastic enclosure that once ringed the whole settlement, the boundary of a medieval monastic town. On the Tullamore road there is a signed path down to St Sinchell's Holy Well and rag tree, where carved fragments from the old monastic site are set into the well.

And then there is the greyhound. Mick the Miller, the most famous racing dog there has ever been - winner of the English Derby in 1929 and 1930, the only greyhound to take the Cesarewitch, the Derby and the St Leger - was born at Millbrook House just outside the village in 1926. There is a bronze of him on the green, and one pub beside it. That is Killeigh: a green, a dog, a ruined friary, and fifteen centuries of quiet underneath.

Population

183 (2022 census)

Founded

Monastery reputedly founded by St Sinchell, 6th century

Coords

53.2139° N, 7.4500° W

01 / 07

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 monastery

Cill Aichidh - the church of the field.

St Sinchell is said to have founded a monastery here in the 6th century, reputedly running a school of 150 monks. Augustinian nuns followed in the 12th century, and a Franciscan friary in the late 13th. The Church of Ireland church in the village still incorporates part of the friary remains.

Stories & lore → 02 The enclosure

A double-banked monastic enclosure rings the village.

Look into the fields behind the Church of Ireland and you can read the earthworks - a double-banked enclosure that once bounded the monastic town. It is the kind of thing you walk past without noticing until someone points it out, and then you cannot unsee it.

Walks & outings → 03 The greyhound

Mick the Miller was born here.

The most famous greyhound in the world was bred at Millbrook House in 1926. A life-size bronze by Elizabeth O'Kane stands on the village green, on a plinth of stone from his birthplace, unveiled in 2011 by Brian Cowen.

Stories & lore →

02 / 07

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

Grennans on the Green

The village local, one of one

Traditional bar & lounge, the village green

The pub in Killeigh, run by Willie Grennan, sitting on the green a few steps from the Mick the Miller statue. A homely traditional bar and lounge of the kind that is the social centre of a small village - this is where the place gathers. Do not arrive expecting a music scene or a gastropub menu; arrive expecting a pint and the local news, which in a village this size is the better deal anyway.

03 / 07

Stories & lore.

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

Cill Aichidh, 6th century

St Sinchell and the church of the field

St Sinchell is the founder figure here, said to have established a monastery and school at Cill Aichidh - the church of the field - in the 6th century, with a community of 150 monks under his direction. Tradition muddies the picture in the usual way: the martyrologies record two saints of the name, an elder Sinchell kept on March 26 and a younger, his nephew, on June 25. The monastery grew into a sizeable ecclesiastical settlement. Augustinian nuns founded a priory here in the 12th century, and the layers kept building. Almost nothing of the early monastery stands above ground today, but the place-name and the earthworks remember it.

Franciscans, c. 1293

The friary in the church wall

Around 1293 O'Connor Faly founded a Franciscan friary in the monastic town of Killeigh. It ran until the dissolution of the monasteries in the late sixteenth century. What makes it worth a stop is what happened next: when the 17th-century Church of Ireland church was built in the centre of the village, it was raised on part of the friary remains and incorporated them. A short stretch of wall near the community hall survives from the earlier Augustinian priory. The real monument, though, is in the ground - the double-banked enclosure in the fields behind the church, the bank-and-ditch boundary of the monastic town, still clearly readable to anyone who looks.

Born Millbrook House, 1926

Mick the Miller

The most famous greyhound in the history of the sport was born just outside Killeigh at Millbrook House in June 1926. Mick the Miller won the English Greyhound Derby in 1929 and again in 1930, and remains the only greyhound ever to win the Cesarewitch, the Derby and the St Leger. He became a genuine household name in Britain in his day and even appeared in a film. The village remembers him with a life-size bronze by the sculptor Elizabeth O'Kane, set on a plinth made of stone from Millbrook House and standing on the village green. It was unveiled in January 2011 by the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen, himself an Offaly man.

04 / 07

Things to do outside.

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

The monastic enclosure and friary Start at the green and the Mick the Miller bronze, walk to the Church of Ireland church to see the friary remains built into the fabric, then look into the fields behind it for the double-banked monastic enclosure - the bank-and-ditch boundary of the medieval monastic town. Short, flat, and far more rewarding once you know what the earthworks are.

Under 1 km around the village coredistance

30-45 minutestime

St Sinchell's Holy Well and rag tree Leaving the village on the Tullamore road there is a signpost for St Sinchell's Holy Well and Holy Tree, with a public path down to the site. Carved architectural fragments from the old monastic settlement are set into the well. A quiet, slightly forgotten corner - bring decent shoes if it has been wet.

Short path off the Tullamore roaddistance

20-30 minutestime

05 / 07

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

St Sinchell's feast falls on March 26. Hedges greening, the Slieve Blooms clear to the south, and the ground around the enclosure and the holy well still firm enough to walk.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Longest days and driest underfoot - the best window for reading the earthworks and walking down to the well. Tullamore eight kilometres north has the distilleries and the services if you want a fuller day.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

Quiet, low light over the fields, the enclosure banks throwing longer shadows that make them easier to pick out. A good month for the curious and the few.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

Short days and soft ground. The holy-well path and the fields can be muddy. The pub on the green keeps going regardless, which is the point of a pub on a green.

◐ Mind yourself

06 / 07

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

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

Expecting a town

Killeigh has a hundred and eighty-odd people, one pub, a green and a church. It is a small village with a large history, not a destination with a high street. Scale your expectations to that and it delivers; arrive looking for a day out with shops and cafes and you will be back in your car in five minutes.

Looking for a standing monastery

St Sinchell's 6th-century foundation is almost entirely gone above ground, and the Franciscan friary survives only as fragments built into the later Church of Ireland church. The real survival is the enclosure earthwork in the fields - which you have to be told to look for. Come for the ground, not the masonry.

The N80 fly-by

The road south from Tullamore takes you straight through and out the far side in under a minute. The village core, the green, the bronze and the friary are a step off the road. Pull in, park, and walk the few hundred metres - everything worth seeing is on foot.

Getting there.

By car

Eight kilometres south of Tullamore on the N80 (the Tullamore to Portarlington road). Portarlington is roughly 15 km south-east. There is parking by the green and the church.

By bus

Bus services and TFI Local Link Laois Offaly cover the village on routes linking Tullamore, Portlaoise, Mountmellick and Portarlington, including a route 557 service. Frequencies are rural - some are term-time or run only on certain days - so check current TFI Local Link and Bus Eireann timetables before relying on them.

By train

The nearest station is Tullamore, eight kilometres north, on the Dublin Heuston to Galway line. Geashill station is on the Portarlington to Tullamore line nearby but is not a normal boarding stop. From Tullamore it is a short drive or bus down to Killeigh.