It takes a village: community spirit in Carlow

I lived away, but there was a fierce pull back.”

“St Mullins is home to me. I’ve never left.”

“I lived abroad, but could see there isn’t anywhere like this in the world.”

These were some of the statements from the group of St Mullins dwellers gathered in the home of community development officer, Bridie Lawlor, when I visited in late January.

Words like ‘magical’ and ‘enchanted’, jewel’ and ‘gem’ drop easily into the conversation.

“St Mullins is probably as magnificent a place as you’ll find anywhere. I believe that after travelling the world,” says Tom Finn, a CEO and St Mullins native, whose community contribution includes cutting the grass by the river at weekends.

Keeping the place tidy and preserving its heritage is uppermost in everyone’s mind, they say, and that goal was the catalyst for the community first getting together in 1995, when the SMART (St Mullins Amenity, Recreation and Tourism) group was set up.

“We’d noticed ‘no trespassing’ signs being erected by newcomers and we couldn’t let that happen,” says Bridie. “St Mullins was always a place where you could walk anywhere, by the river or along the old mass paths.”

The community is still battling on the preservation front, this time to retain a grass tow-path by the river. Waterways Ireland wishes to put a hard surface there, believing that it would make the path more accessible to cyclists.

“My argument is that you don’t attract more tourists by setting out to destroy the very beauty that brings them there,” says journalist Olivia O’Leary, who has a house in the area. “The grass keeps the peace and the pace of the river.”

That preservation challenge continues. While the village green was quiet the day I visited, save for the sound of crows in the monastery graveyard and the thrum of the Barrow below, it was obvious from the large car park nearby and the signs near the grassy motte advising me not to leave valuables in my car, that this could be a busy place at times.

Why wouldn’t it be, though, with so much history wrapped up in it?

St Mullins, which gets its name from St Moling (614-696), is an ancient ecclesiastical site and medieval place of pilgrimage.

It has physical evidence of all eras of Irish history from pre-Christian (even Fionn mac Cumhaill gets a mention) to a Christian monastic settlement to a Norman motte and bailey, to 1798 rebellion graves and more.

“We get bus tours, tourists, fishermen and a lot of walkers here,” says Helen Doyle, who runs a B&B in the area. “They come for the Blackstairs and the fishing and the beauty of the place.”

Get the group talking about village highlights over the years and all the big national events are mentioned, from the Millenium Lighting ceremony in 2000 to 1,500 pike men converging on the village in 1998; to the Gathering weekend in 2014 and the more recent 1916 commemorative events.

The support provided by the community when such events are organised is mentioned by many – Mary O’Neill of SMART, Moling Grennan, GAA chairperson, Mary Flood of the Active Retirement Group and Mary Gahan and Kathleen Doyle of the ICA.

“No matter what you’re planning, you pick up the phone and people row in behind you.”

The biggest annual day in the village is Pattern Sunday, however, the Sunday before 25 July (St James’s Day).

Ecclesiastically, there are St Mullins’ links with St James’ Way in Spain – the Camino de Santiago – and St Mullins is now believed to have one of the five pilgrim paths to the Waterford boats that, when empty of wine, ferried ancient Irish pilgrims to Spain.

“The pattern’s the time everyone comes back to their home place,” Bridie says. “We get every age group here that day and traffic control is carried out by the Community Alert members.”

Security is obviously important given the number of warning signs erected on approach roads, I say. Is crime a big problem?

“The signs are preventative and they work,” the chairperson of the community alert group, Pat Murphy, says.

And 403 householders are signed up to the text alert system.

“We are vigilant. It was set up after two unfortunate break-ins in both the churches in the area in 2012. We don’t want that to happen again.”

Angling is a huge draw in the area, of course, because of the Barrow, with an Annual Shad Fishing Competition held in early May.

Kevin Cunningham has photographic evidence of the catches, and Michael O’Leary and his son Shane talk about how St Mullins is at the tail end of tidal water (sea meeting river) and how this brings up unusual species, like the twaite shad. Preserving the remnants of a raised bog in the area is important in St Mullin’s too.

“The raised bog remains near here are a heritage that belongs not just to the parish, but to the country and to the world,” says Matt English-Hayden.

“A bog can reveal the history of an area. We’ll be able to tell everybody, after the research is done, about what happened here, from the type of farming that went on, to how the community evolved over 600 years. It’s nature and history combined – a little gem inside a bigger gem.”

The village has a pub, the seasonal Muilleachain café, the Siopa Glas shop and a heritage centre. Future plans include the preservation of an old mill race, traffic calming measures and CCTV for the village.

TIPS FROM ST MULLINS