Oughaval Church just outside Stradbally is located on the right hand side of the N80 coming from the village and up into the Windy Gap. It is located right on the steep bend behind a more modern graveyard.
It contains the remains of a very beautiful 16th Century Church (probably an addition to the earlier 12th Century Church that stood before it) which was restored sometime around 1750. The Church is now an imposing ruin and very unusual in its architecture.
Oughaval Church stands on the site of what was originally a 6th Century Monastery founded by Saint Colman. A spin up and over the Windy Gap is a must if visiting the area if only to enjoy the smooth pan flat surface of the road, a pleasure to cycle on. Head down the far side and you could take in Ballyadams as well......
There is a small Russian Orthodox Church complete with a Golden "Onion" domed roof not far away (back down into and through Stradbally, then left onto the R 427) also called Saint Colmans. I thought I was imagining things when I first spotted this lovely little Church as I passed on the bike.
The Book of Leinster (Lebar na Núachonbala, originally called The Book of Oughaval) was located here for several Centuries. It is a 12th Century manuscript which was most likely composed by several authors over an extended period.
The Book of Leinster comprises of the remaining pages of a manuscript of writings on History, Martyrs, Saints and Mythology in Ireland. It represents a desire to enshrine the old oral history of Ireland into the written word which could be kept and passed to future generations.
Oughaval Stradbally
Pictured above are the unusual crenelations of the Church and below is the Church crypt.
Kevin O'Higgins was a Minister for Justice during the 1920's and signed the death warrants for many IRA "holdouts" who were anti-treaty.
He was assassinated at Booterstown in Dublin. Originally from Laois his Father and brothers are buried at a marked plot in Oughaval cemetery.
