Old Leighlin
Old Leighlin is a village, civil parish and townland in County Carlow, Ireland. It lies about 3.5 km west of Leighlinbridge. In the past it was a major religious centre, home to around 1,500 monks. In AD 630 a church synod held there decided that Easter should be dated using Roman rules, not the old Celtic method.
St Laserian's Cathedral was the main church of the diocese of Leighlin, which is now part of the Church of Ireland after merging with nearby dioceses. It is named after Molaise of Leighlin and sits on the site of an older monastery founded in 632 AD. It is one of the smallest medieval Irish cathedrals.
Nearby there is a holy well that people still visit and a small plain granite wheeled cross.
Before 1800, Old Leighlin was a bishop's borough in the Irish Parliament, where the Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin chose the two Members of Parliament.
Location: about 52.736°N, 7.019°W.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 11:27 (CET).