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

Foundation

Clonmacnoise was founded in 545 by Saint Ciaran at the point where the major east-west land route through the bogs of central Ireland along the moraines left by the receding glaciers of the last ice age crossed the River Shannon. Saint Ciaran had been educated by Saint Diarmuid of Clonard and Saint Finian.

Shortly after his arrival, Ciaran met Diarmuid 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

1. Temple Finghin. 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.
2. Temple Connor. Church used by the Church of Ireland since the 18th century.
3. 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 Finghin.
4. North Cross. Oldest of the four crosses. Created around 800.
5. Temple Kelly.
6. Temple Ciaran. At 2.8 by 3.8 metres, the smallest church in Clonmacnoise. Believed to contain the grave of the founder Cieran.
7. 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 reponsible for the building of the Cathedral.
8. Cathedral (or daimliag in Irish, meaning literaly "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-fifteenth century and is Gothic in style.
9. Temple Melaghlin. Built around 1200.
10. Museum Buildings
11. South Cross.
12. Temple Downling. Built in the 11th century. Named after Edmund Dowling, who renovated it in 1689.
13. Temple Hurpan. Built in the 17th century.
14. Entrance

References

King, Heather A (1998). Clonmacnoise Studies Vol.1. Duchas & Wordwell. ISBN 07076509-8-4. 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.

See also: Clonmacnoise, 545, Athlone, Bogs, Christian, Church of Ireland, Ciaran, Connacht