St Kevin's Church, Hollywood

St Kevin's Church in Hollywood, County Wicklow — a disused 17th-century church standing on a medieval ecclesiastical site — marks the traditional starting point of the pilgrim road to Glendalough, walked today as St Kevin's Way.

Hollywood's Irish name, Cillín Chaoimhín, translates simply as 'little church of Kevin' — a name that has outlasted the building's active use. The current structure dates to around 1680, standing on ground with a documented 13th-century ecclesiastical charter and five medieval grave slabs still visible in the churchyard. What the church has never stopped doing, even after regular worship ended, is marking a beginning: this is where pilgrims gather before setting out on the 30km walk across the Wicklow Mountains to Glendalough, the monastic city St Kevin founded in the 6th century. Local legend holds that Kevin himself blessed the surrounding wood, and that a valley nearby still holds his cave, bed, and chair. Whatever else has changed, the church remains the last consecrated ground before the mountains begin.

Local legend holds that St Kevin blessed the wood that gave Hollywood its name ('Holy Wood', Latin Bosco Sancto), pronouncing that anyone who burned green or dry wood from it before Judgment Day would suffer 'hell and a short life.' Tradition also places St Kevin's Cave, St Kevin's Bed, and St Kevin's Chair in a valley near the village, associated with the saint's own wanderings before he settled at Glendalough.

Two separate St Kevin-dedicated churches stand in Hollywood village: the disused c.1680 Church of Ireland structure on the older ecclesiastical site, and a separate active 1830 Catholic church in Hollywood Upper. This content treats the former as primary, since it is the site with the documented medieval grave slabs and the 13th-century charter reference, and the traditional blessing point for departing pilgrims — while noting the Catholic church as a related, currently active site of the same dedication in the same village. What is not established is how continuous the pilgrimage tradition actually was between the medieval period and its 20th/21st-century revival as a marked trail; the intervening centuries are not documented in available sources, and this content does not claim an unbroken line where none is confirmed.

A medieval ecclesiastical waypoint gathering pilgrims traveling from the midlands before their crossing of the Wicklow Mountains to venerate St Kevin's relics at Glendalough.

Earliest documented reference comes from a 13th-century charter; the present Church of Ireland structure was built around 1680, and a separate Catholic church was built in Hollywood Upper around 1830. The Church of Ireland building is now disused for regular worship but remains the customary departure point and blessing site for modern pilgrims.

Historically, the wider Glendalough pilgrimage included a Pattern Day (patron saint's day) on 3 June, discontinued in 1862 amid Church-authority concerns about rowdy secular behaviour; no evidence was found of an equivalent formal pattern-day ceremony specific to Hollywood itself.

Contemporary pilgrims and walkers gather at the church before setting out on St Kevin's Way; some report receiving an informal blessing there before departure.

Walkers can obtain the National Pilgrim Passport (Teastas Oilithreachta) and have it stamped along the route, part of the modern pilgrim-path programme coordinated by Pilgrim Paths of Ireland.

Visiting the church itself is a brief matter — the exterior, the graveyard, and its five medieval grave slabs can be taken in well under an hour, since the interior is not routinely open to the public. What gives the visit its weight is what it precedes: walkers describe a sense of purposeful beginning here, a quiet contact with the medieval pilgrimage before the physical demands of the mountain crossing set in. Journalists and hikers alike (an Irish Times account from 2025 is cited in research) frame completing the full walk from Hollywood to Glendalough as a deliberate pause from modern life and a chance to retrace, on foot, a journey roughly 1,400 years old.

Start at the churchyard in Hollywood village; dress for mountain weather ahead of the exposed crossing at Wicklow Gap.

Heritage scholarship and living pilgrim tradition agree on Hollywood's role as a genuine waypoint, but differ on how much continuity connects the medieval past to the modern trail.

Academic and heritage-body sources agree Hollywood was a genuine medieval ecclesiastical waypoint on the route to Glendalough, evidenced by surviving grave slabs and documentary references, though direct medieval documentation of organized 'pilgrimage' as such — versus general ecclesiastical activity — is thinner before the 19th century.

Local and popular tradition treats Hollywood unambiguously as St Kevin's own path and the proper starting point of the pilgrim road, reinforced by the place-name Cillín Chaoimhín and the wood-blessing legend.

Contemporary pilgrimage writers and tour operators frame the route as an Irish counterpart to the Camino de Santiago — a 'Celtic Camino' — emphasizing personal reflection and a break from modern life rather than doctrinal devotion.

How continuous the pilgrimage tradition actually was between the medieval period and its 20th/21st-century revival as a marked trail is not established; the extent of any pilgrimage activity at Hollywood during the intervening centuries is undocumented in available sources.

Hollywood village is reachable by road in west County Wicklow; the churchyard and trailhead markers for St Kevin's Way are in and around the village.

No specific dress code or restriction is documented beyond ordinary respectful visitor conduct at a disused church and working graveyard.

No specific dress code is documented for the church or churchyard beyond ordinary respectful visitor conduct; walkers should dress for mountain weather given the exposed high point at Wicklow Gap ahead on the trail.

No restrictions are documented; standard respectful photography in a working graveyard and heritage site is expected.

The Church of Ireland building is disused and not routinely open inside; visitors should stay respectful of the surrounding active graveyard. Dogs must be kept on leads once on the trail, per Leave No Trace guidance for St Kevin's Way.

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Sacred places within a half-day’s reach. Pilgrims often visit them together: walk one, stay for the other.

Wicklow Gap

County Wicklow, Ireland

14.6 km away

Glendalough

County Wicklow, The Municipal District of Wicklow, Ireland

20.2 km away

St. Brigid's Garden Well

Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland

21.5 km away

St. Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare

Kildare, County Kildare, Ireland

22.2 km away

Sources consulted when researching this page. Independent verification by readers is welcome.

1. 01Saint Kevin's Way — Wikipedia — Wikipedia contributorshigh-reliability
2. 02Hollywood, County Wicklow — Wikipedia — Wikipedia contributorshigh-reliability
3. 03Medieval Pilgrimage at Hollywood Co. Wicklow — Pilgrimage in Medieval Ireland (research blog, academic authorship)high-reliability
4. 04Saint Kevin's Church (Hollywood), Dragoonhill, Hollywood, Wicklow — National Inventory of Architectural Heritage / Buildings of Irelandhigh-reliability
5. 05Saint Kevin's Catholic Church, Hollywood Upper, Hollywood, Wicklow — National Inventory of Architectural Heritage / Buildings of Irelandhigh-reliability
6. 06Saint Kevin's Way Pilgrim Path - Hollywood/Valleymount to Glendalough — Wicklow County Tourismhigh-reliability
7. 07St. Kevin's Way, Wicklow — Pilgrim Paths of Irelandhigh-reliability
8. 08St. Kevin's Way Historical Marker — Historical Marker Database (transcribing an on-site interpretive marker)
9. 09St Kevin's Monastic Site – Glendalough — Trips.ie
10. 10St. Kevin's Church, Hollywood, Co. Wicklow — Dr Emma Lyons