Abbey of Kells Abbey of Kells The Abbey of Kells ("Mainistir Cheanannais" in Irish) is a former monastery in Kells, County Meath, Ireland, north of Dublin. It was founded in the early 9th century, and the Book of Kells was kept there during the later medieval and early modern periods before finally leaving the abbey in the 1650s. Much of the Book of Kells may have been created there, but historians cannot be certain of the exact date and circumstances of its creation. The Abbey of Kells was reportedly founded by St. Columba ca. 554, after High King Diarmuid Mac Caroll of Tara
Kells (County Kilkenny barony) and grazing lands. The Walsh Mountains are in the barony and they stretch into the barony of "barony of Knocktopher". Kells barony contains the towns of Kells and Kilmaganny, and the settlements of Baurscoob, Windgap, Dunnamaggan. The village of Kells is situated on the south side of the King’s River on its floodplain. Kells contais the civil parishes of Ballytobin, Coolaghmore, Dunnamaggan, Kells, Dunnamaggan, Kilmaganny, Kilree, Mallardstown, Stonecarthy, and Tullahought. Kells contains parts of the Roman Catholic parishes of Callan, Dunnamaggan, and Windgap. Parts of the barony were in the Poor law unions of Callan, Carrick on Suir, and Thomastown.