In Kilcloon, parish history and an inclusively designed community playground sit alongside nearby historic sites. The local church, a church building used as a parish school, and monuments such as a tower house or ringfort offer different reasons to explore the area’s history. Which places interest you depends on whether you want to focus on church and local history, architecture or archaeological traces.

Church and Local History in Kilcloon

Kilcloon Parish includes the Church of St. Oliver Plunkett. The parish church is located at Ballynare Cross Roads in the village of Kilcloon. Local history also refers to an older church in Kilclone, which was converted into a parish school in 1832. This reuse is a historical point of interest in its own right and should not be confused with the present-day parish church.

This gives you a clear focus when planning a visit: you can make the parish church in the village your main stop or explore Kilcloon’s history through the former use of a church building. These two themes lead from a present-day religious landmark to a change in the building’s use in 1832, without requiring a particular route.

Community Playground: Design and Visiting

The Kilcloon Community Playground was officially opened on 18 March 2024. It is accessible to people with differing abilities and takes people with disabilities into account. It is also designed to be sensory-friendly and autism-friendly. These features offer a practical point of reference for visitors who want to consider accessibility and sensory needs when choosing a place to visit.

The opening date refers to the official launch, not the current opening hours or access arrangements. Check these details before visiting. This also helps distinguish the playground as a subject in its own right alongside the historic sites: here, the focus is on the design of a shared recreational facility, while churches, ruins and archaeological monuments appeal to other interests.

Historic Sites Nearby

Moygaddy survives as a three-storey tower house and was conserved in 1892. The tower house was associated with the lordship of the Manor of Moyglare. Its surviving form and this historical association are two distinct ways of understanding the site: one describes the building, the other its connection to a structure of lordship.

St. Brigid’s Well is also near Kilcloon. The spring is in the townland of Calgath; its surroundings are also known as Bridestream, after the stream that flows from the spring. In the year 2000, the Kilcloon Millennium Committee restored the spring with the landowner’s support. The name, watercourse and restoration give the site its own local history, without implying anything about present-day access.

Rodanstown Motte is an ancient rath, or ringfort. It is thought to date from 400 to 1100 AD, but may go back as far as the Iron Age. Its dating therefore spans a period, with a possible earlier origin. The motte lies about 500 metres northeast of the ruins of Rodanstown Church; this distance is measured from the ruins, not from a route starting in Kilcloon.

Rodanstown Church was built on the site of the old church of St. Rodan. It was dissolved during the Reformation in 1540; at that time, the townland was called Balraden. The graveyard also spans a long period of history: most of the gravestones date from the early 12th century to the mid-18th century. There are a few later stones from the mid- to late 20th century. Here, older gravestones stand alongside a small number of much later examples.

Another nearby building, Mulhussey Castle, was developed and extended in the 18th century. Today, it is an ivy-covered ruin. Together with Moygaddy’s three-storey tower house, it shows two distinct surviving states of buildings: there, a tower house that remains standing; here, a ruin with visible ivy growth.

Cultural Sites in County Meath

Those exploring cultural sites in County Meath will find two different prehistoric contexts at Brú na Bóinne and Loughcrew. The Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Site lies in a bend of the River Boyne and includes the passage tombs of Knowth, Newgrange and Dowth, built around 3200 BC. Loughcrew Megalithic Cemetery is a group of Neolithic passage tombs dating from around 3000 BC and extends across four gently rolling ridges. This offers a way to compare the river landscape of Brú na Bóinne with Loughcrew’s extensive ridge, without treating the two sites as a single excursion destination.

Discover more destinations: Kells, Trim, Stamullin, Balrath, An Seanchaisleán, Donaghmore, Julianstown, Rathmolyon.

See the broader travel overview: County Meath.