The Church of Ireland cathedral stands on ground that has been sacred since St Brigid established her famous double monastery here in the fifth century. Much of what you see today is a Victorian restoration of a medieval structure, but the bones are ancient — the squat, solid nave dates from the thirteenth century. The cathedral shares its grounds with one of the finest round towers in Ireland.
St Brigid's Cathedral
A story
St Brigid founded her monastery here around 480 AD and is said to have kept a perpetual flame burning in the abbey — tended by nineteen nuns who guarded it through the centuries. The flame was extinguished at the Reformation but was symbolically rekindled in 1993 by the Brigidine Sisters in Kildare town's market square, where it burns to this day.