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The History of Kilmore
Our Historic Community
The small hamlet of Kilmore, in the Barony of Oneilland ( Cell mór Uí Nialláin ), takes its name from the early Christian and medieval church on the hill. The early history of the site is hard to disentangle from various ‘Kilmore’ place names throughout Ireland, with some claiming this to be the early site founded by St Mochta in 422AD.
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However, the first reference to this Kilmore, of which we can be certain, comes from the Martology of Tallaght, an 8th or 9th century manuscript which refers to the early priest Corc. As such, what is clear is that the present Church of Ireland parish church of St. Aidan and its graveyard probably occupy the site of an Early Christian and medieval church, but no early material survives except an Early Christian period pin from the graveyard, 13th century silver penny and a 12th century silver ring found in recent years. Skeletal remains from the surrounding fields suggest that the graveyard was once bigger. There is a holy well to the E in the former glebe garden (ARM 009:008).
According to the 1835 OS memoir "there was a monastery near the church" the foundations of which may have been incorporated into the former glebe house, now known as Kilmore House. The monastery is believed to have belonged to the Culdees of which little more is known.
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The nave of the present church building was rebuilt in 1814, but the tower was retained from an earlier structure. Local tradition records that the large square tower of the current church building encloses an early roundtower within its walls, whilst this claim is unsubstantiated it is quite possible the tower itself is a late medieval survival.
