Clonmacnoise
The monastery of Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis in Irish, meaning "Meadow of the Sons of Nós") is situated in County Offaly, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone. The site can be visited for a fee, via an Interpretative Centre.
The modern village of Clonmacnoise is beside the monastery on the R444 regional road 7 km north of Shannonbridge, County Offaly.
Foundation
Clonmacnoise was built in 545 by Saint Ciarán at the point where the major east-west land route through the bogs of central Ireland along the Eiscir Riada, an esker or moraine left by the receding glaciers of the last ice age crossed the River Shannon. Saint Ciarán had been educated by Saint Diarmuid of Clonard and Saint Finian.
Shortly after his arrival, Ciarán met Diarmait mac Cerbaill who helped him build the first church — a small wooden structure and the first of many small churches to be clustered on the site. Diarmuid was to claim the title of the first Christian High King of Ireland.
Ciaran died about one year later of the yellow plague; he was in his early thirties.
Buildings and High Crosses
- Temple Finghín. Romanesque church with round tower. 12th century. Vandalism of this church in 1864 by a person from Birr on a 'pleasure party' to the Seven Churches (as Clonmacnoise was then often termed), led to a landmark case when a prosecution was brought against the vandal by the Crown, due to the activity of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. The remains of the funds which had been raised for the prosecution were later used by the Society to repair the cap of the church's tower, which was in need of conservation.
- Temple Connor. Church used by the Church of Ireland since the 18th century.
- Round Tower. The Chronicum Scotorum, records that it was finished in 1124 by Turlough O'Connor, king of Connacht, and Gilla Christ Ua Maoileoin, abbot of Clonmacnoise. 11 years later it was struck by lightning, which knocked off the head of the tower. The upper part of the tower is later work, so there is some speculation that the masonry thus toppled in the storm of 1135 may have been reused in the building of Temple Finghín.
- North Cross. Oldest of the four crosses. Created around 800 A.D. Only the sandstone shaft and base survive. The base is a former millstone.
- Temple Kelly.
- Temple Ciarán. At 2.8 by 3.8 metres, the smallest church in Clonmacnoise. Believed to contain the grave of the founder St. Ciaran.
- Cross of the Scriptures. This 4-metre high sandstone cross is one of the most skillfully executed of the surviving high crosses in Ireland, and of particular interest for its surviving inscription, which asks a prayer for Flann, King of Ireland, and Colmán who made the cross, both individuals who were also responsible for the building of the Cathedral. The cross was carved from a single piece of sandstone around 900 A.D. The surface of the cross has been divided into panels, showing scenes including the Crucifixion, the Last Judgement, and Christ in the Tomb. While the original one has been moved into the visitors centre, a replica stands outdoors in the original place.
- Cathedral (or daimliag in Irish, meaning literally "stone church", to distinguish it from the earlier wooden buildings). Built in 909 (Chronicum Scotorum) by Flann Sianna, King of Tara and Abbot Colmán, although the west doorway is a later insertion of c.1180, and the north doorway, often called Dean Odo's doorway from its incription dates to the mid-15th century and is Gothic in style. It is the largest of the churches at Clonmacnoise. Rory O'Connor, the last High King of Ireland, was buried near the alter in 1198.
- Temple Melaghlin. Built around 1200 A.D..
- Museum Buildings
- South Cross.
- Temple Dowling. Built in the 11th century. Named after Edmund Dowling, who renovated it in 1689.
- Temple Hurpan. Built in the 17th century.
- Entrance
The Fairy's or Horseman's Stone
Near the Chapel of Clonfinlough at Clonmacnoise there are several limestone boulders, one of which is called the Fairy's or Horseman's Stone. It has many cup-shaped hollows, crosses, daggers, and a pair of human feet (an example of a Petrosomatoglyph) possibly connected with the inauguration of celtic chieftains. Dunadd in Scotland has a well-known example of this celtic tradition.
Ui Maine/Hy Many
Clonmacnoise was situated in the territory of Ui Maine. This territory of Imania was variously called Hymanny, Imanny, Ithmania, Mainech, Ivemaine, Hymaine, Omaine, Omanny, or Uimaine, and appears from various authorities to have consisted of the southern part of what is now called the county of Roscommon, and the northern part of the county of Galway. What its exact extent was cannot now be positively ascertained; but from the various family estates at present belonging, and those which are well known formerly to have belonged, to persons of the name of Kelly or O'Kelly, in that particular part of the kingdom, as well as from the different old castles which popular tradition and historical records point out as having been built by, or in the possession of the O'Kellys, there is good reason to suppose that it extended over the barony of Athlone, in the county of Roscommon, and the baronies of Ballymoe, Tiaquin, Killian, and Kilconnell, in the county of Galway; and this conjecture is strengthened by an old pedigree in the possession of the Rev. A. Kelly, of Castle Kelly, the present head of the name, compiled by that learned antiquarian, Charles O'Conor, Esq., of Belanagare, which, in its account of the family, between the years 1393 and 1423, mentions the barony of Tiaquin, as the appanage of one younger son; the barony of Kilconnell, as that of another; the barony of Athlone, as that of a third; and the lands of Rahera, as that of a fourth, and which styles the eldest son by the second wife as Teige More of Cruffon, a name by which the peasantry still designate a large district in the county of Galway, long celebrated for its coarse linen manufacture, containing the barony of Killian and a large part of Ballymoe"
The Annals of Clonmacnoise
The Annals give the history of Ireland and the areas surrounding Clonmacnois from the creation of man to the year 1408. The translator points out that several parts of the original work are missing as from 1182 to 1199 and again from 1290 to 1299. He states that the originals were destroyed not merely by the books being burnt by marauding Vikings but also by tailors cutting the leaves of the books and slicing them off in long pieces to make their measures.
These Annals have usually gone by the name of the Annals of Clonmacnoise. In the book itself there is nothing to show why it should be called by this name. They do however give special prominence to the history of the parts of the country on both sides of the River Shannon at Clonmacnois and to the families inhabiting the areas of Ui Maine (Hy Many) surrounding them, namely O'Kellys, O'Rourkes, O'Molloys, O'Connors and McDermotts. The principal value of these Annals arises from the historical details given of these districts and families which are not found to the same extent elsewhere.
There is no clue to the original author's name throughout the work other than that he was a great Latin scholar. He was more than likely Irish if we judge from the sympathies that are shown by the reproachful words which he layeth down in the ould books and which he declared of an evil will he did beareth towards William Burke.
The original work was in Irish Gaelic. The translator more than once refers "to the ould Irish book out of which he wrote, to the old Irish book which he translates, out of which many leaves were lost or stolen.."
The translator of the original work was Connell McGeoghegan of County Westmeath. He dedicated this translation to his brother Terence whose family was among the last to uphold and practice the old Irish Gaelic Tribal Customs. The translation was completed on April 20th 1627 in the Castle of Lemanaghan in County Offaly. The original manuscript of McGeoghegan's translation is lost but there are several copies of it in both the Library of Trinity College and in the English Museum.
The translation was written in the quaint style of the Elizabethan period. Mc Geoghegan seems to have preserved the value of the original Gaelic phraseology and rendered it every justice as far as we can determine in the absence of the original manuscript.
And even the whole of the book is not given by the translator, as he states that ?the old Irish book by lying shutt and unused to, I could hardly read it, and left places that I could not read because they were altogether grown illegible and put out?
The translation of the Annals was first published in Dublin in 1896 and again reprinted by Llanerch Publishers in 1993.
See also
- Clonmacnoise and West Offaly Railway
- Quern (tombstone) - a tombstone from Clonmacnoise
- List of abbeys and priories in the Republic of Ireland (County Offaly)
- List of towns in the Republic of Ireland
References
King, Heather A (1998). Clonmacnoise Studies Vol.1. Duchas & Wordwell. ISBN 0-7076-5098-4. King, Heather A (2003). Clonmacnoise Studies Vol.2. Dept of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government & Wordwell. ISBN 0-7557-1793-7.
Graves, James (1864–66). "Proceedings". Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 8: 109–113, 174–9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
Clonmacnoise Visitors' Guide, published by Duchas, The Heritage Service.
53°19′26″N 7°59′28″W / 53.32389°N 7.99111°W
"Abbey and School of Clonmacnoise". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2007-02-17.