Fuerty

Fuerty
Fiodharta
Town

Fuerty church and graveyard
Fuerty

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 53°37′00″N 8°16′00″W / 53.6166°N 8.2666°W / 53.6166; -8.2666Coordinates: 53°37′00″N 8°16′00″W / 53.6166°N 8.2666°W / 53.6166; -8.2666
Country Ireland
Province Connacht
County County Roscommon
Elevation 75 m (246 ft)
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference M834574

Fuerty (historically Fewerty, from Irish: Fiodharta, meaning "high wood")[1] is a hamlet on the R366 regional road near the town of Roscommon in County Roscommon, Ireland. The place is known for a ruined church and ancient graveyard on the site of a Celtic Christian abbey.

The church and graveyard

It is said that Saint Patrick visited Fuerty and left a deacon to found a monastic settlement here. The deacon, Justus, baptised Saint Ciarán, a local man, around the year 500. Ciaran went on to found Clonmacnoise, which became one of the most important monasteries and centres of learning in Europe.

Two 8th century granite grave slabs in the west side of the tower bear inscriptions that can still be read. One of them bears the name of Ardeachan, Abbot of Clonmacnoise. The abbey was attacked and destroyed by the English Elizabethan invaders and all its monks were slain. The existing ruins are of a 17th-century Church of Ireland. The tower was added in 1790 but the church was destroyed by fire in 1870.

References

  1. ↑ Placenames Database of Ireland (see archival records)

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 5/15/2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.