Durrow () is a small rural village and
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
in
County Offaly,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. Durrow is located on the
N52 off the
N6 road between
Kilbeggan (in County Westmeath) and
Tullamore
Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...
(in County Offaly).
Durrow Abbey
Durrow Abbey is a historic site in Durrow, County Offaly in Ireland. It is located off the N52 some 5 miles from Tullamore. Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and ...
, surrounded by woods, is one of Ireland's most important early Christian monasteries founded by Saint Colmcille.
Some mistakenly assign
County Laois as the location of this particular monastic settlement due to the presence of a larger town in Laois called
Durrow.
Monastery
Iona was established in exile and during that time Colum Cille yearned for monasteries in Ireland. The poem 'An Exile's Dream' specifically indicates Durrow as location for a monastery. Durrow was then part of the territory of
Tethba
Tethbae (; also spelled ''Tethba'', often anglicised ''Teffia'') was a confederation of túatha in central Ireland in the Middle Ages. It was divided into two distinct kingdoms, north Tethba, ruled by the Cenél Coirpri, and south Tethba, ruled ...
, which now lies mostly in
Co. Longford. It was also located near one of Ireland's five ancient routes,
Slighe Mór. However, no accounts survive of what Colum Cille's monastery was like at its foundation. The monastic enclosure of Durrow can be seen in the aerial photographs of the surrounding lands. South of the monastery is evidence of
Early Christian burials, unearthed by excavation of burial mounds by the
National Museum of Ireland.
Bede
Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...
mentions that many more monasteries sprang from Durrow.
Control
Patronage shifted during the millennium that followed the monastery's establishment. The Kings of Meath, Kings of Tethba and the MacGeoghegans, as well as chieftains known as Cinél
Fiachach supported the monastery. This support did not permit them to appoint its
abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
, who was selected from
Colum Cille
Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Gaelic Ireland, Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity ...
's own extended family at the start. Later rule of the Columban monasteries would be dominated by certain families who became
hereditary rulers forming
ecclesiastical dynasties.
Uí Néill
The Uí Néill (Irish pronunciation: ; meaning "descendants of Niall") are Irish dynasties who claim descent from Niall Noígíallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages), a historical King of Tara who died c. 405. They are generally divided into t ...
association was also important and in 763 Domnall, King of Meath, was buried in the graveyard of Durrow. In 764 a war was fought with
Clonmacnoise
Clonmacnoise ( Irish: ''Cluain Mhic Nóis'') is a ruined monastery situated in County Offaly in Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon. Until the 9th cen ...
over burial rights, particularly the burial site of future Kings of Meath and in 776 the men of Durrow were involved in a raid upon Munster.
[''Annals of Ulster'' 776.11.]
See also
*
Book of Durrow
The Book of Durrow is an illuminated manuscript dated to c. 700 that consists of text from the four Gospels gospel books, written in an Irish adaption of Vulgate Latin, and illustrated in the Insular script style.Moss (2014), p. 229
Its origin ...
*
Colum Cille
Columba or Colmcille; gd, Calum Cille; gv, Colum Keeilley; non, Kolban or at least partly reinterpreted as (7 December 521 – 9 June 597 AD) was an Gaelic Ireland, Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity ...
*
Durrow Abbey
Durrow Abbey is a historic site in Durrow, County Offaly in Ireland. It is located off the N52 some 5 miles from Tullamore. Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and ...
*
List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Offaly)
*
List of towns and villages in Ireland
References
External links
Images at megalithomaniacensus.nationalarchives.ie
{{World Heritage Sites in Ireland
Towns and villages in County Offaly