MULLINS-ST, a parish, partly in the barony of
BANTRY, county of WEXFORD, but chiefly in that of
ST-MULLINS, county of CARLOW, and province of
LEINSTER, 2½ miles (E.) from Graigue, on the road
to Enniscorthy, and on the river Barrow; containing
5895 inhabitants. Its name is derived from the ancient
monastery founded here by St. Moling, or Mullin, at
a place called Aghacainid, subsequently Telghmolin, or
"St. Mullin's House," about the year 632, or, according
to some historians, in the middle of the seventh century,
St. Moling, being a native of this part of the island and
of the royal race of Leinster, was afterwards made bishop
of Ferns. In 951, the church was plundered by the
Danes, and the abbey was destroyed by fire in 1138,
The remains of the ancient edifices, and the present parish
church, occupy a beautiful situation on the eastern
bank of the river Barrow, at a spot where its bunks are
finely elevated, on the opposite side well wooded, and
where a small stream merges into it from a deep defile
that extends to the church from the village of Glynn,
presenting some picturesque scenes. The parish comprises
13,174 statute acres, of which 998 are common, 423
woodland, 671 waste, 147 5 bog, and the remainder arable;
it derives considerable facility for the transit of its produce
from the Barrow navigation. Road sessions are held in
Glascany; and fairs at St. Mullins on June 17th and
July 25th for the sale of general farming stock. It is
an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Leighlm, and in
the patronage of Csesar Colclough, Esq., in whom the
rectory is impropriate. The titles amount to £600,
entirely payable to the impropriator, who allows the
curate £32. 6.1¾. per annum. The glebe-house was
built by a gift of £380, and a loan of £450, from the late
Board of First Fruits; the glebe comprises 57 acres,
The church is a plain building, erected in 1811 by aid
of a gift of £800 from the same Board, and has recently
been repaired by aid of a grant of £185 from the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners; it contains some elegant monuments
to the Kavanagh family. In the R. C. divisions
the parish is partly in the union or district of Borris,
and partly a district in itself, containing chapels at Glinn
and Drummond. There are three national schools, in
which about 790 children are taught; and two private
schools, in which are about 120 children. The remains
of the ancient buildings consist of the ruins of five small
plain structures in the churchyard, extending from east
to west, with two walls, once forming part of a sixth,
and the broken walls of a seventh outside the enclosure:
there is little worthy of notice in these ruins: at the
east of the largest are the remains of a stone cross and
of a small roofless building, with two steps descending
into it. Numerous memorials exist of the Kavanaghs
and other ancient Irish families; and a holy well is
enclosed by a stone wall, round which the country people
do penance.