St Mullin’s ecclesiastical site was founded in the 7th century by St Moling. In the year of his death (AD 697) he was a guarantor of the Law of the Innocents, an act of the Irish Church’s Synod of Birr. Sited overlooking the River Barrow, St Mullin’s was attacked by Vikings in the early 8th century. In 1158 the monastery was granted to the Augustinians by Leinster king Dermot McMurrough. Post-Norman invasion a mannor was established - the motte-and-bailey castle still stands opposite the church site. In 1323 St Moling’s relics were lost when Edmond Butler burned the church. The Kilkenny Friar Clyn recorded a major pilgrimage here during the Black Death in 1348.
The base consists of cut granite blocks and survives to five courses above ground. It is thought to date from c. 1100, but there is no record of how or when it was destroyed. It had been connected to the adjacent 15th century church through the construction of a spiral stairway, which presumably gave access to the original doorway of the round tower.
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