Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
The Priest and the Mule on Slieve Coillte
Here’s a great little piece of local folklore that I recorded with John Flynn from Campile last week. It’s a story I heard in different forms in Wexford over the years of a Priest during Penal Times who was up on high ground saying mass. The high ground offered a safe place from where to say mass however it ends with the Priest on his mule being chased off the height and falling to their death. In this case folklore tells us the hoof print of the mule is in the rock and where the water gathers is holy. A similar story is told at Edenvale near Castlebridge where the Priest came over the high rock face too and banged his head on a rock in the stream and as a result the water runs red at this spot to this day. Love the stories and love this one too. Thanks for showing me John.
The Priest and the Mule on Slieve Coillte
Here’s a great little piece of local folklore that I recorded with John Flynn from Campile last week. It’s a story I heard in different forms in Wexford over the years of a Priest during Penal Times who was up on high ground saying mass. The high ground offered a safe place from where to say mass however it ends with the Priest on his mule being chased off the height and falling to their death. In this case folklore tells us the hoof print of the mule is in the rock and where the water gathers is holy. A similar story is told at Edenvale near Castlebridge where the Priest came over the high rock face too and banged his head on a rock in the stream and as a result the water runs red at this spot to this day. Love the stories and love this one too. Thanks for showing me John.
