Kells · 1 November 2026
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KELLS — Another week gone, and the Book of Kells is still in a glass case 69 km away. Trinity's position hasn't moved. No return has been agreed, and nobody in Kells is pretending otherwise. Here is what happened in the town and on this site in the week to Sunday 1 November.
Why the Book is in Dublin, on one page
We published a plain answer to the question visitors ask most: why is the Book of Kells in Dublin and not in Kells? It was sent away for safety in 1653, in a time of war. It was never sold. A bishop handed it to Trinity in 1661, and it has not come back since. Read why the Book left Kells in 1653.
We also rewrote why it's called the Book of Kells. The short version: the name is an address, and the address is Kells.
In the parish
The parish news for 25 October set out the All Saints weekend. The Parish List of the Dead was remembered at the vigil Mass on Saturday 31 October and at the All Saints Masses on Sunday 1 November in Kells and Girley. The Mass of Memory is on Friday 6 November at 7:30pm in St Colmcille's Church, and the relic of St Thérèse of Lisieux comes to the weekend Masses on 7 and 8 November.
Coming up: Samhain in Kells
The Samhain Festival of Food & Culture runs in Kells from Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November, according to the organisers, The Centre of Food Culture Ireland. The listing is on our events page, and a day in Kells from Dublin plans the rest of the trip. Come for the food, then walk up to the old monastic ground. The Book was made for this town, not for a queue in Dublin.
The daily puzzle
Week six runs from 31 October to 6 November: two cryptics, a scramble, a true-or-false, an odd one out, a quick quiz and a spot-the-fib on the 1653 record. Play today's on the puzzle page.
Where things stand
Trinity turned down requests to bring the Book to Kells in 2000 and again in 2011 (the record is here). Kells isn't asking to borrow it. It is asking for its book back, for good. Until that happens, the Book stays 69 km from home, and we will keep saying so every week.
Can you believe it? (satire)
From our satire desk this month:
- Kells Offered Twinning With a Display Case in Dublin, in Place of the Book
- Ancestry Test Finds the Book of Kells Is Almost Entirely From Kells
- Trinity Offers Kells a Livestream of the Display Case as Meaningful Access
- Book of Kells Lost-and-Found Claim From Kells Rejected as Out of Time
- Kells Adds the Book of Kells to Its November List. Family Stresses It Is Not Dead, Just in Dublin.
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