| Glendalough was founded as a hermitage by St. Kevin in the latter part
of the 6th century A.D., in County Wicklow. While his royal lineage
is generally accepted, most tales of Kevin’s life are confused by myth
and embellishment. But by the time of Kevin’s death in 618, a monastery
was firmly established that would function through the 15th century and
serve as a place of pilgrimage through present day. The ruins that
stand today, mostly those of stone churches, have withstood multiple
fires, plunders, and destruction by foreigners and local Irish alike over
the centuries of occupation, and exist as perhaps the best preserved of
all monastic sites in Ireland (Barrow 1992:21-22).
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