Toward the end of the 6th century CE, a small group of Irish monks led by Saint Kevin, who had previously lived there as a hermit, founded the Christian monastery at Glendalough, in what is now County Wicklow. The settlement grew and thrived, despite Viking raids, for the next six centuries, becoming eventually absorbed into the Dublin diocese. Apart from St Kevin, the most influential Abbot of Glendalough was St Lorcan (Laurence) O’ Toole (1118 - 1180), who became Archbishop of Dublin.

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