Tracing the Rian

Image of a sketch by Hardy of Lismore Cathedral

Sketch by Hardy of Lismore Cathedral

Image of a sketch by Hardy of Lismore Cathedral

Image of a sketch by Hardy of Lismore Cathedral

Sketch by Hardy of Lismore Cathedral

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Rev. P. Power's article The Rian Bo Phadruig – the ancient highway of the Decies, published in The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 1905 traces the origins, geography and traditions associated with the route.

The ancient roadway was explored in Smith's history of Waterford in the mid 1700's, when it was clearly traceable across the untilled landscape. A significant contribution made by Rev. Power was the tracing of hundreds of Irish placenames along the route, unrecorded on the 1840 Ordnance Survey maps. The evidence they yielded remained unexploited by non-Irish speaking historians and travellers like the aforementioned Smith.

These Irish usages revealed that the road was used by holy men of Cashel and Lismore. On the north side of the Knockmealdowns, for example, one of these sites (a well known as 'Tobar Mochuda') is associated with Mochuda, the founder of Lismore, beside which lies archaeological evidence of a chapel founded by him. Rev. Power traced the Rian from Cashel to Lismore via Ardfinnan, Kildanoge and the summit of the Knockmealdowns, and classified the route in four sections:

Image of part of Rian Bó Phadraig

Knockmealdown and Melleray section of the Rian Bó Phadraig

Image of part of Rian Bó Phadraig

Image of part of Rian Bó Phadraig

Knockmealdown and Melleray section of the Rian Bó Phadraig

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(a) Cashel to Ardfinnam, a distance of 15 miles
(b) Ardfinnan to Lismore over the Knockmealdowns, a distance of 12 miles
(c) Lismore to Ardmore, a distance of 20 miles
(d) Lismore to the Bride river, a distance of five miles

The preservation of the ancient road through the centuries was attributed to the reluctance of farmers to work the land bearing the saint's name. Its appearance, where unobscured, is that of a turf track with grass or heath overgrowth, visible as a short depression. It measures seven feet wide on average, flanked on both sides by grassy banks measuring a few inches to several feet high. This gives the overall impression of a furrow in places, and is more clearly defined from the Waterford county boundary to Lismore.