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St BRIGIDS CATHEDRAL
KILDARE TOWN
Very Reverend Robert Townly
Dean of Kildare
The Deans House
The Curragh
Co Kildare
Ph 045 441654
SERVICES
SUNDAY 12 noon, The Holy Communion
Saints Days as announced
St Brigids Cathedral & Round Tower
Visit the 750 year old Cathedral situated on a site established by St Brigid in 480 A.D.
CLIMB THE ROUND TOWER - the highest in Ireland with public access.
OPENING TIMES May to September (incl.)
MONDAY to SATURDAY
10 a.m. - 1pm & 2pm - 5pm
SUNDAY
2pm - 5pm
OTHERWISE THE CATHEDRAL OPENED BY ARRANGEMENT
Brief History of St. Brigids Cathedral Kildare
Just over 1500 years ago Saint Brigid arrived in Kildare with her nuns in 480 A.D. Her original Abbey church would have been a simple wooden Building, but so great became her fame that, soon after her death in 532 A.D. a costly shrine was erected in her honour in a new and larger Building. For many centuries Kildare maintained a unique Irish Experiment, the abbess ruled over a double community of women and men and the bishop was subordinate in jurisdiction to the abbess.
Between the years 865 and 998 the cathedral was devastated no less than 16 times, so when the Norman, Ralph of Bristol became bishop in 1223 it was virtually in ruins. Between then and 1230 the present Cathedral was largely built. It was semi-ruinous by the year 1500, Derelict by 1649, partially rebuilt in 1686, and finally restored to its present form from 1875 - 1896. Major restoration work was completed in 1996.
The Kildare St. Brigid Round Tower, like most throughout Ireland was originally built a place of refuge from the ravages of the Viking raiders. The Kildare tower, the second on the site, is 108 feet high and the second highest tower in Ireland, however it is the highest tower in Ireland that has access to the top.
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