The archaeological remains of the village reflect its
monastic history, and comprise holy wells (named after St. Brendan and St. Cormac) and ruins of a castle, the cathedral and Augustinian priory,
another religious foundation. St.
Brendan of Clonfert (aka Brendan the Navigator) received the
grant of land here from the Kig of Connacht in the sixth
century. The building itself is rather drab and does not
prepare one for the fantastically intricate design of the
window, which was probably swiped from the Priory, down the
road. The cathedral is sited on the foundations of a church
that was burned in the twelfth century - the current
building dates from the fifteenth century.
There are a number of other
ruins on the same site, such as the Abbey of St. John the
Baptist De Cella Parva and the College of St. Brendan. There
was also supposed to be a round tower on the site until the
early part of the thirteenth century - there was no trace of
it even 150 years ago. |
