Kilmore, An Chill Mhór, Co. Wexford

An Chill Mhór · Co. Wexford

The inland Kilmore - a tiny parish village with one extraordinary thing: carols sung in a dead language every Christmas since the 1750s.

There are two Kilmores in south Wexford and people get them mixed up all the time. This is the inland one. It sits a couple of kilometres up the road from Kilmore Quay, about sixteen kilometres south of Wexford town, a small cluster around a church and a graveyard and a few houses on a country road in the old barony of Bargy. The coast village got the harbour, the thatched cottages and the postcards. This one got the parish - and one of the strangest, most precious living traditions in Ireland.

Every Christmas, in St Mary's church, six local men sing the Kilmore Carols. They have done so without a break since the parish priest Peter Devereux introduced them around 1751. The carols are sung in Yola, the all-but-extinct dialect of medieval English that survived in this one corner of Wexford for six hundred years after the Norman landings nearby. The singers split into two groups of three and trade stanzas. Some of the original tunes have been lost; several carols share what melodies remain. You will not hear this anywhere else on earth, because it does not exist anywhere else on earth.

The rest of the year the village goes quiet. There is no pub on the main road, no café aimed at passing traffic, no harbour view. Come for the church and the headstones, time a December visit for the carols if you possibly can, and drive the extra two kilometres to the Quay for the boats and the chowder. Do not try to do the whole thing in twenty minutes, and do not come here expecting your lunch.

Population

132 (2016 census)

Founded

Medieval parish, recorded from 1245; St Mary's church built 1798-1802

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 carols

Christmas carols sung in Yola, the lost language of south Wexford, unbroken since c.1751.

Thirteen carols, six local men, two groups of three singing alternate stanzas in St Mary's church. The tradition has run without a break for over 250 years. There is nothing else like it in Ireland.

Stories & lore → 02 The two Kilmores

Not the one with the boats. That is Kilmore Quay, two kilometres south.

This is the inland parish village - a church, a graveyard, a few houses on a country road. The harbour, the thatch, the chowder and the Saltees ferry are all down at the Quay. Go to the right one.

Know before you go → 03 The parish

The historic burying ground for this corner of the barony of Bargy.

Kilmore is the old Roman Catholic parish base, taking in Kilmore Quay, Mulrankin and Tomhaggard. If you are tracing south Wexford ancestors, this is the graveyard people mean.

Walks & outings →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

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

Yola, unbroken since c.1751

The Kilmore Carols

This is the reason to know Kilmore exists. A cycle of thirteen Christmas carols, sung each year in St Mary's church since around 1751, when the parish priest Very Rev. Peter Devereux introduced them. They are sung in Yola - the dialect of Middle English that evolved in south Wexford after the Norman invasion and clung on in the baronies of Forth and Bargy long after it died everywhere else. Six local men, traditionally including a member of the Devereux family, divide into two groups of three and sing alternate stanzas, unaccompanied. The first carol is sung at Christmas Day Mass, the last on the Sunday nearest Epiphany. Several of the old tunes were lost over the centuries, so a number of carols now share the surviving melodies. RTÉ filmed them in 1977 and 1981. They have been sung without a break for more than 250 years. If you can be in Wexford at Christmas, this is worth rearranging a trip for.

William Day, 1798-1802

St Mary's church

The parish church was built between 1798 and 1802 to designs by William Day, a plain Gothic Revival building in the Diocese of Ferns. A tower was added in 1889, an annexe in 1898 and a vestry in 1935; the later work is attributed to the architect Thomas Joseph Cullen. The east window, dated 1884, is by the French stained-glass maker Lucien-Léopold Lobin of Tours. The church is on the Wexford County Council Record of Protected Structures. It is a modest country church doing an immodest job - it is where the carols are sung, and that is what packs it once a year.

Cill Mhór - the big church

The old church at Grange

The name An Chill Mhór means the big church, and the original is a ruin. In the townland of Grange, inside an old ecclesiastical enclosure, stand the remains of the former parish church - probably of early medieval origin, with a handful of early 17th-century memorials still legible inside. The parish itself is recorded from 1245. Add the ringforts scattered through the surrounding townlands of Sarshill, Lannagh and Rickardstown and you have a corner of country that has been settled, prayed in and buried in for the better part of a thousand years. None of it is dressed up for visitors. Bring boots and read the stones.

Same name, different village

The two Kilmores

Kilmore the inland village and Kilmore Quay the harbour village are not the same place. They share a parish and a name, but they are about two kilometres apart on different roads. The quay grew up around the fishing pier and the lifeboat station in the 19th century - thatched cottages, working harbour, the ferry to the Saltee Islands, pubs like Kehoe's and Mary Barry's, a chipper and a seafood restaurant. The inland Kilmore is older, smaller, and what the people of the parish meant when they said home before the harbour pulled the centre of gravity south. If a sat-nav sends you to one when you wanted the other, check before you set off.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

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

St Mary's and the graveyard There is no marked trail - this is a look around, not a hike. Walk the churchyard at St Mary's, read the headstones, and if the church is open put your head in to see the Lobin east window. The older Devereux, Cullen and Bargy parish names are all here. Honest grass, leaning stones, quiet.

Short village wanderdistance

30 minutestime

Grange church ruin and the ringfort country The genuinely old fabric is spread through the townlands - the ruined early church inside its enclosure at Grange, and ringfort sites at Sarshill, Lannagh and Rickardstown. None is signposted or set up for visitors; this is back-roads pottering for people who like a map and a ruin. Ask locally and respect that some sites sit on private farmland.

By car, short stopsdistance

1 hourtime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Winter

Dec

The one time the village is unmissable. The Kilmore Carols run from Christmas Day Mass to the Sunday nearest Epiphany. If you are anywhere near Wexford over Christmas, this is the reason to come.

◉ Go

Spring

Mar-May

Quiet country roads, hedgerows coming in, the graveyard at its tidiest before summer growth takes over.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Traffic heading down to Kilmore Quay gets heavy on weekends. The inland village itself stays quiet - most of the traffic goes straight past.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The coast empties out and the parish goes back to itself. A good month to wander a graveyard and read what is on the stones.

◉ Go

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.

Confusing this Kilmore with Kilmore Quay

They are not the same village. If you came for boats, thatched cottages, a chowder and the Saltees ferry, you want Kilmore Quay, two kilometres south on the coast. This Kilmore is the inland parish village. Both are fine - just go to the right one.

Coming for a meal or a pint in the inland village

There is no hospitality scene to speak of here. The pubs - Kehoe's of Kilmore, Mary Barry's - the seafood restaurant and the chipper are all down at Kilmore Quay. Do the church and the graveyard here, drive the two kilometres for the food.

Turning up in July expecting the carols

The Kilmore Carols are a Christmas tradition, sung from Christmas Day to around Epiphany. The rest of the year St Mary's is just a quiet country church. Time your visit if the carols are what you came for.

Getting there.

By car

Wexford town to Kilmore is about 20 to 25 minutes south, roughly sixteen kilometres, via Johnstown Castle and Bridgetown. Kilmore Quay is two kilometres further down toward the coast. Watch the signs at the junction - they distinguish the inland village from the Quay.

By bus

Wexford Bus runs several services daily (not Sundays) from Wexford town to Kilmore Quay via Johnstown Castle, Bridgetown and Kilmore. Check the current timetable for the stop. There is no bus station; the nearest train station is Wexford on the Dublin Connolly to Rosslare line.

Next on the tour

Co. Wexford

Kilmore Quay

The coast village two kilometres south. Thatched front, working harbour, the Saltees ferry, Kehoe's and the chowder. This is what most people mean when they say Kilmore.

Co. Wexford

Tacumshane

East of here on the back roads. The country windmill - one of the last surviving thatched windmills in Ireland. Worth the detour.

Co. Wexford

Bridgetown

On the road back toward Wexford town. The village you pass through on the way down; a useful stop for fuel, a shop and a pint that the inland Kilmore cannot give you.

Co. Wexford

Wexford

The county town, 20 to 25 minutes north. Opera Festival in late October, narrow streets, a proper night out if you want one.