St. Mullins Domestic Building

The last large structure in this section of the site is marked as a domestic building. So it was used as living quarters  or something. Another rectangular building made from uncoursed granite rubble. Its about 11 meters by 6 meters with walls rising to about 5 meters. To me it looks like another church but from certain features this would not seem t be the case. There is a lintelled doorway in the west gable which leads you into the interior. The east gable wall has a rather unusual diamond shaped ope near the top, an two wall niches. There is lintelled window on the west side of the south wall and a fire place in the north wall, complete with a chimney. A few grave markers have made their way into the structure as is the norm when you explore this type of old ruin. I wonder how many modern day houses will still be standing as long as this one?

The fire place

To the rear of the building I found a rather surprising underground cellar. Access was blocked by another frustrating iron gate and it was dark and gloomy inside. I was just about able to make out some stone objects inside and used my speed light off camera to brighten up the interior and capture a few shots. The most interesting  item was the circular granite stone lying on its side just inside the gate. It looks rather like a Bullaun stone? But I could not find any records to confirm this. Most likely this cellar would have been used by the monks to keep their stash of booze, be it beer or wine or perhaps a bit of both. Hey don’t judge, we Irish are well known for enjoying our booze 🙂

Looking up the Chimney

The Bullaun Stone

Inside the Cellar

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