Pictorial Tour of Places Associated with St. Kevin of Glendalough

St. Kevin was the patron founder of the monastery at Glendalough. The Annals of Ulster list the date of his death as 618 C.E. The date for his birth is generally listed as 498 C.E., but this is unlikely given the year of his death. There are six sources for the life of St. Kevin: three Latin lives, the earliest of which is in the Codex Kilkenniensis and dates from the eleventh century, and three Irish lives, which were transcribed in 1629 by Michael O'Clery from old texts which relied on oral traditions.

Kevin was born of a royal line of the tribe of Dal-Mesincorb. An angel appeared to his mother Coemella and prophesied to her that she would bear a boy who would be "dear to both God and man ... and the father over many monks." The angel also told her he should be called Coemgen, the Gaelic form of the English "Kevin."

Kevin studied with Eogan, Lochan, and Enna in Tallaght at the age of twelve. He left the monastery while still very young and went to Glendalough in the Wicklow mountains as a hermit. He lived an ascetic life there undisturbed for many years until a cow came to lick Kevin and suddenly began to produce voluminous amounts of milk, Kevin was discovered by the locals.

Kevin's holiness attracted many other monks to the place, and Glendalough became a great center of pilgrimage.

Let's walk through the grounds of the monastic city, and then onto the lower lake, the upper lake, and the hermitage of St. Kevin

The interior of the Cathedral at Glendalough. One can see the tomb stones within the cathedral . Click here for an exterior view of the cathedral and for another view of the interior.

The Priest's House

The Deer Stone

St. Kevin's Kitchen

The Women's Church

Reefert Church

St. Savior's Church

Trinity Church 

The Caher

St. Kevin's Well from a distance, located outside the monastery walls. Pilgrims would come here to pray, and leave a piece of cloth on a tree representing their intentions. Look closely at the tree to the farthest left and you can see the bits of cloth and paper hanging from its branches.

Close-up of St. Kevin's Well.

Continue to the next page: Virtual Tour of Glendalough: The Green Road and Lakes

Return to the Index of Celtic Monasticism

copyright © Dr. Deborah Vess 1999. All rights reserved. Photographs by Dr. Deborah Vess. Visitors to this site are welcome to use the photos and other information for educational purposes provided that user acknowledges the source.