Free for everyone; an open-air monument with no staff, tickets or booking. No membership card is needed.
The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.
OPW names no car park or directions. A small parking area is mapped by the forest entrance just south of the graveyard, behind a height barrier, and a reviewer notes 'the car park is just past the gate on the left'; it is not an official car park. The Castlemorris loops' own car park is at the Grand Gates on the R701, about 800 m away. No bus service is named.
Driving pin: the small parking area, 27 m from OPW's own pin and about 80 m from the church.
Aghaviller was an early Christian foundation believed to have been begun by St Brendan of Birr, and two of its buildings still stand in the old graveyard at the edge of Castlemorris Wood. The 11th-century sandstone round tower survives to 9.6 metres on a purpose-built square plinth, its original doorway four metres up with a carved surround and a later doorway at ground level. The 12th-century church was turned into a dwelling in the late 15th century, when a vault was inserted over the chancel with a residential tower above, reached by a stair in the north wall and propped by two great buttresses. Inside you can still pick out the stone altar under the east window, pointed doorways, draw-bar slots, corbels and window embrasures. Reviewers say you can walk through the buildings and climb to the upper floor, so a torch helps, and that twenty minutes is enough. Waymarked Coillte loops through Castlemorris Wood pass 200 metres away, with dogs allowed on a lead.
An unguided open-air national monument in OPW's care with no staff and no facilities. OPW warns that care and caution should be kept throughout a visit to its unguided sites.
The graveyard is entered by a gate beside a stone step stile; old, uneven ground with historic headstones; a stair climbs to the church's upper floor and the interiors are dark. Not suitable for wheelchairs (a reviewer). No toilets.
Castlemorris Holly Loop (4.7 km, red arrows) and Pheasant Loop (7 km, purple arrows), managed by Coillte, start at the Grand Gates car park on the R701 and pass 200 m from the site; dogs on a lead.
Dogs: Dogs on a lead may walk the Castlemorris Wood loops (Coillte) that pass 200 m from the church.
Photo: The fortified medieval church at Aghaviller, converted into a residential tower, in its graveyard. A.-K. D., CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St_Brendan%27s_Church_looking_northeast.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.
No reviews yet
No reviews yet. Be the first to share your experience!
Dog friendly
4.7 km, moderate, about 1 hour 30 minutes, red arrows; starts at the Grand Gates car park on the R701; Aghaviller is 200 m along the surfaced road from the forest barrier (Discover Ireland's route text).
Dog friendly
7 km, moderate, about 2 hours 30 minutes, purple arrows; same start and same Aghaviller detour.
