Clonmacnoise

Clonmacnoise with River Shannon in foreground

April 8th 1999
	We were blessed with good dry weather for our holiday back home in Ireland this Easter, and we decided to take full advantage by visiting as many interesting places as possible. I had visited Clonmacnoise, on the banks of the Shannon river, some twenty years earlier, to take photos for a display at Longford Camera Club, which I started with my good friend Tiernan Dolan. Some of the pictures here are my own and others are from various sources. After a drive through some very twisty roads, we arrived to find a brand new Visitor Centre which had been built since my first visit, and we got there just in time for the audio-visual show in the little "cinema"; and a very nice introduction it was too. The Visitor Centre now houses the High Crosses which, for security reasons, have been brought in from the site and displayed there. Replicas now stand in the original positions on the site. The centre also has on display numerous Grave Slabs which are housed indoors for similar reasons. There are also exhibits of what life was like many hundreds of years ago at Clonmacnoise.

April 8th 1999

Temple Finghin from inside Cathedral (Pic by Me)

We were blessed with good dry weather for our holiday back home in Ireland this Easter, and we decided to take full advantage by visiting as many interesting places as possible. I had visited Clonmacnoise, on the banks of the Shannon river, some twenty years earlier, to take photos for a display at Longford Camera Club, which I started with my good friend Tiernan Dolan. Some of the pictures here are my own and others are from various sources.
After a drive through some very twisty roads, we arrived to find a brand new Visitor Centre which had been built since my first visit, and we got there just in time for the audio-visual show in the little "cinema"; and a very nice introduction it was too. The Visitor Centre now houses the High Crosses which, for security reasons, have been brought in from the site and displayed there. Replicas now stand in the original positions on the site. The centre also has on display numerous Grave Slabs which are housed indoors for similar reasons. There are also exhibits of what life was like many hundreds of years ago at Clonmacnoise.

Brief History
The church at Clonmacnoise was founded by Saint Ciarán in the middle of the 6th century. He was not of noble birth like many other Irish saints, but was the son of a craftsman, and before settling in Clonmacnoise he had founded a religious community further north on the River Shannon. Having set up his church, Saint Ciarán did not live to see its popularity grow, as records tell us that he died less than a year after its foundation. The settlement became a major centre of piety, learning, trade and craftmanship between the years AD 700 and 1200. However, subsequent abbots of Clonmacnoise, up to the 12th century, usually styled themselves on Ciarán. Records indicate that the settlement was frequently plundered or burned, but do not tell us whether this was malicious or accidental. Plans from the 17th-18th century show the remains of eleven churches, but today the remains of only eight can be traced. Temple Ciarán is the smallest of the churches and according to tradition, is the location of Ciarán's grave.

Brief History

The church at Clonmacnoise was founded by Saint Ciarán in the middle of the 6th century. He was not of noble birth like many other Irish saints, but was the son of a craftsman, and before settling in Clonmacnoise he had founded a religious community further north on the River Shannon. Having set up his church, Saint Ciarán did not live to see its popularity grow, as records tell us that he died less than a year after its foundation. The settlement became a major centre of piety, learning, trade and craftmanship between the years AD 700 and 1200. However, subsequent abbots of Clonmacnoise, up to the 12th century, usually styled themselves on Ciarán. Records indicate that the settlement was frequently plundered or burned, but do not tell us whether this was malicious or accidental. Plans from the 17th-18th century show the remains of eleven churches, but today the remains of only eight can be traced. Temple Ciarán is the smallest of the churches and according to tradition, is the location of Ciarán's grave.

The Crosses

On a 1738 plan, four crosses were marked and three remained in the same positions until 1992-93, when they were brought into the Visitor Centre and replaced by replicas. These are the Cross of the Scriptures, the South Cross and the North Cross (shaft only). The Cross of the Scriptures is one of Ireland's finest surviving 'high crosses'. Its inscriptions on either side of the base are badly damaged, but have been reconstructed to read:

"ÓR DO RIG FLAIND MAC MAELSECHNAILL OROIT DO RIG HERENN ÓR DO COLMAN DORRO ... IN CROSA AR ... RIG FLAIND"

(A prayer for King Flann, son of Maelsechnaill, a prayer for the King of Ireland. A prayer for Colmán who made this cross for King Flann.)

Flann was king of Meath from 879 to 926. Colman was probably the abbot who ruled Clonmacnoise around the same time.

The Grave Slabs

Clonmacnoise has the largest and most remarkable collection of Early Medieval grave slabs in Britain or Ireland and there are over 600 known slabs or fragments of slabs, ranging in date from about 700 to the 12th century. There was a school of craftsmen carving these slabs at Clonmacnoise over the centuries. They are all sandstone and the carving is executed on a natural and sometimes uneven face. The grave slabs are inscribed to commemorate Kings, craftsmen and other worthy individuals.

Today Clonmacnoise probably more closely resembles the site which Saint Ciarán chose in the 6th century than the busy, congested settlement it grew into some centuries later. It continues to be a place of pilgrimage, and large crowds assemble there each year for ceremonies in memory of Saint Ciarán.

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Mythical Ireland: New Light On The Ancient Past

Click HERE for a (slow to download but worth the wait) film of Clonmacnoise