Erne)

(Lough
Devenish

(Canon.)
McKenna
E.
J.
 jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiiiiriii mini

W
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HARVARD
COLLEGE
LIBRARY
DEVENISH.
W. AND G. BAIRD, LIMITED.

PRINTERS,

ROYAL AVENUE, BELFAST.

THE CLOICH-TEAC (ROUND TOWER), DEVENISH.
Photo by Mercer, Enilishillcn.
 DEVENISH
(LOUGH ERNE):

ITS HISTORY, ANTIQUITIES,

AND

TRADITIONS.

M. H. GILL & SON, DUBLIN.

A. WEAVER, ENNISKILLEN.

1897.
Br \'SDiq.z.s~

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

SEP 1 6 1994
 CONTENTS.

PAGE
Introduction 9
St. Molaise, Founder of Devenish ... 13
St. Molaise's House ... ... ... . . 22
The Sheskeil Molaise 30
The Round Tower 43
The Old Abbey 55
St. Mary's Abbey 60
The High Cross ... 73
Fragments 77
Devenish Monks and their Possessions . 84
The Abbots of Devenish ... 88
What the Annalists say of Devenish 92
Patron Day at Devenish ... . 96
Devenish Legends 99
The Surroundings ... 106
Portora 109
The Cemeteries ... 121
 INTRODUCTION.

' Shall we tread the dust of ages,

Musing dream-like on the past,
Seeking on the broad earth's pages
For the shadows time hath cast ;
Waking up some ancient story,
From each prostrate shrine or hall,
Old traditions of a glory
Earth may never more recall ! "
— Lady Wilde.

E\V great discoveries are un

folded in the following pages.
No new theory is propounded.
We come forward in the charac
ter of gossips to tell what we have
been able to learn of the history, antiquities, and traditions of
the most interesting of Lough Erne's many islands.
Devenish, with its magnificent round tower and extensive
monastic ruins, surrounded by so many archaeological and
traditionary associations, forms the chief
attraction of the Lower Lake, and how few
of those who visit it know anything of its
history? Often, no doubt, those venerable
ruins are passed by wayfarers—unconscious of their interest
ing history—who think not of the seclusion that falls around
them like a mantle of peace and blessedness enveloping
the placid waters of the lake. The passing steamer on a
summer day may bear its busy freight on pleasure or on
profit. They gaze upon the ruins, they ask many questions,
and they pass on. We can afford to let them pass on,
while we summon history—that wise and pale-faced mistress
of the past—to interpret for us the characters which time
has set in the handwriting of death and change on this
varying page.

Note —The name Devenish is very generally supposed to be derived from TjAirn-mitt the
Island of the Oxen. Thus In the Ancient LatlnLife of St. Aldan: " Beatlssimus Lasreanus ad
aqullonalem partemnHiberniae exlvlt et construxit clarlsslmum monasterlum In stagno Heme,
nomine Dalmhlnls, qui sonat latino Bovls nsula ;" and again: " Regebat plures monachos In
Insula posito In stagno Erne, quam Scotl nomlnat Dalmhlnls, Id est Bovlum Insulam." Notwith
standing the apparent antiquity of this derivation we must confess we do not like it. It Is clumsy
 Introduction.

Here we can glance backwards through the vistas of ages, and

cast our eye down the vividly written scroll of Ireland's story ; here
we can look into eras animated with other feelings, powerful in
other phases of intellect, and mining a different but drossier vein
of knowledge. Here the past is before us, warm with its old
sacred life and indomitable energy. Here in the solitude of the
surrounding hills, and in the gentle rippling of the waters there is
the presence and the voice of an eternity, and here long ages ago
one of those holy men whose sanctity and learning gained for our
country the title of " Island of Saints and Scholars," founded a
monastery, and gathered around him a brotherhood of religious that
shed a lustre around the rising Church of Clogher. Here it was
that Christianity found one of its earliest places of anchorage, after
the "strong-throng-gathering clans" of Ulaidh had been drawn out
of Druidical darkness into the light of the Kingdom of Heaven.
On flows the Erne, and on flows time. History leads us, in
thought, through the ages of Ireland's first fervour : —
" The Saints are there,
Christ's ever-glowing light
Through heavenly features, grave and fair,
Is shining ; and all the lonely air
Is thronged with shadows bright."
A little later we hear a heart-rending wail of woe as the ruthless
Danes plunder their monasteries, desecrate their sanctuaries, and
overturn their altars. Then succeed the broils and turmoils and
bloodsheds of those internecine wars that invited English invaders.
We pass on through other phases of historic scene and circum
stances. During an occasional lull in the storm we see scaffolds
erected with their tall poles against the blue sky and rough masses
of stone glistening in the sun below. We hear the din of hammer
and trowel, and we watch the sacred edifice rising—a sublime
and unsatisfactory, tjahi and OAirii though apparently totally different words are closely
related. xkmii in modern Irish is an ox. It had a more ancient meaning, which, we believe, is
now obsolete, viz., learning, or a learned man—a druld. -uAtiii pronounced like v&m (dauv),
means a church. From one or other of these roots the name Devenish is, we believe, derived.
If the island was known by its present name in pre-Christian times it means the island of the
learned men, and, consequently, the Sacred Island. If it assumed the name in Christian times it
Is the Island of the Church, and consequently the Sacred Island. (See O'Reilly's Irish Diction
ary). It is very improbable that its excellence as pasture land was fully appreciated at the time it
received its name, and it is equally improbable that the name has any connection with the tradi
tional virtues oi the " Coey," a little bay to the east of the island, through which the people of the
neighbourhood were accustomed to drive their cattle on May Eve, as a preventative of imirrm
ana all similar diseases. (MS. History of Fermanagh.) This superstition, a remnant of pagan-
Ism, was so common in every part of the country that it is unlikely that an important island
should be named from it. The late Bernard Uannan, of Cavaucarragh, gave us some years ago a most
graphic description of the scenes he witnessed, as a boy, at the Cooey(«tf«cum A11511 A tj Aim-tni|t
power of Devenish) when all the neighbours, on May Eve, drove their cattle through it. We
believe that Devenish means the Sacrcalsle.
 Introduction.

creation of mind and chisel. We love to breathe the atmosphere of

old mind and heart which our ancient abbeys enshrine. There is a
peculiar and fascinating influence lingering around their shady
aisles and cloisters, through which psalm and anthem were wont to
resound. Their very presence acts as a talisman to call up before
us visions on which memory loves to ponder with fervent and
thoughtful admiration. Wherever situated—in the remote island
or in the mountain fastness—in whatever state of preservation they
may be, they have an elevating and refining influence which those who
are privileged to linger beneath their shades appreciate and profit by.
While we would wish that others, in whom richer materials
were backed by greater skill, had undertaken to act as the
reader's "guide, philosopher and friend" among the hoary ruins
of Devenish, we hope that our endeavour to depict their interesting
history and bring their ennobling influence into stronger light may
not be altogether in vain. In compiling the following pages, we
have consulted the best authors within reach on every subject
touched upon, and as far as possible we have given their opinion
in their own words. Our descriptions, measurements, and illustra
tions of the actual remains will be found to differ considerably from
those given by other writers on Devenish. If their accuracy is
called in question it is easy to test it. For our deductions and
conclusions we cannot claim the same accuracy. Those who have
devoted a lifetime to the study of Irish ecclesiastical antiquities will,
no doubt, find in them much to criticise and censure, but no one
courts that criticism and censure, which is calculated to lead to
historic truth, more heartily than we do.
We have to acknowledge our indebtedness to a number of kind
friends for valuable assistance. W. A. Scott, of the firm of
Scott & Son, Architects, Drogheda, checked our measurements of
the tower, ground plans, etc., and assisted in preparing the plans
and a number of illustrations. Francis Joseph Bigger, m.r.i.a.,
Editor of the " Ulster Journal," assisted us, and allowed us to draw
at pleasure from his inexhaustable store of antiquarian lore. Miss
Margaret Stokes, to whom Irish Christian Art owes more than to
any other living author, supplied us with electrotypes of the blocks
used in illustrating Molaise's Shrine, in her admirable book on
" Christian Art." In Thos. Plunket, m.r.i.a., Enniskillen, we
found what Hugh Millar would call a Dictionary of Facts, with
explanatory notes appended, which may be drawn out to any length
the questioner desires.
 ST. MOLAISE,

THE FOUNDER OF DEVENISH.

-ooooooo

HE founder of Devenish was Molaise, the son

of Nadfraech, and seventh in descent from Crund
Badrai, King of Ulaidhi His mother was Monoa,
daughter of Midloca,1 who was descended from
the Royal stock of Tara. From an ancient manu
script Life of the Saint, written in Irish, and preserved in the R.I. A.,
Dublin,2 it would appear that his birth was surrounded by a number
of prodigies which were looked upon as indicating his future greatness.
He was born at Airud-Bhairr, and baptised by Bishop Eochaidh,
who afterwards conferred minor orders on him. Like the other
Apostles of Erin, he went at an early age to the School of Clonard,
" a holy city, full of wisdom and virtue," to study the Sacred
Scriptures under St. Finian, " who, like the sun in the firmament,
enlightened the world with the rays of his virtue, wisdom, and
doctrines. For the fame of his good works invited many illustrious
men from divers parts of the world to his school as to a holy
repository of all wisdom, partly to study the Sacred Scriptures, and
partly to be instructed in Ecclesiastical discipline."
In the School of Clonard Molaise formed an intimate
friendship with Aiden, afterwards Bishop of Ferns," and a few
facts which we shall mention later on show that that friendship
lasted until death. Towards the end of their school-days the two
friends were seated one day in the shade of two trees, discussing
their future, when they earnestly prayed God to make known to
them whether they might remain together, or whether it was His
will that they should work apart. While they thus prayed, the

i Medhloca was of the Corca-Raldhea tribe, whose territory lay In the barony of Corkarec,
Co. Westmeath.
2 O'Curry Manuscript Materials of Irish History, p. 340, etc.
3 St. Aldan was born on Imp DnectV»dt£ (Wolffieid Island), in Brackley Lough, Co.
Cavan. (Colgan A.S.S., p. 208a ; Martyr of Donegal, p. 33 ; O'Donovan Four Masters, A. n. 1406
vol. iv., p. 1228). In Templeport Lake, about two miles from Bawnboy (Ordnance Survey of
Co. Cavan, sheet 13), is St. Mogue's Island, where we recently discovered some remains of a stone-
roofed church contemporaneous with Molalse's House on Devenish. He Is the patron saint
not only of Ferns, but also of Drumlane and Templeport, Co. Cavan ; Rosslnuer, Co. Leltrim ;
Lurg, Co. Fermanagh ; a number of churches In Wexford, Waterford, and Limerick, and three
churches in Scotland.
14 Devenish: Its History,

tree, which shaded Molaise, inclined towards the north, and that
under which Aiden sat inclined to the south. " This token for
parting," they exclaimed, " is given us by God, and we shall go as
these trees have inclined." So, embracing each other and weeping,
the two friends parted—Aiden going southwards, where he after
wards founded Ferns, in the Province of Leinster ; and Mplaise, in
company with his master, St. Finian, bent his steps towards the
north, where he founded the Monastery of Devenish.1
The Felire' of ^Engus in the Laebhar Breac gives the following
quatrain, as composed by Molaise, in praise of Devenish :—
" Good is the discovery we have made ;
A broad lake with mountain and field—
A general cemetery for the Gaedhil :
The rightful residence of God the Father."
Conal Derg, Prince of the territory in which Devenish lay, resolved,
at the instigation of the Druids, to expel him from the island.
Having mustered all his fighting men he proceeded to a place
called Omhna-Gabhtha,' which derived that name from the fact
that their horses' feet became immovably fixed to the ground there,
so that they could neither proceed nor return.* There they
remained until Molaise, placated by a gift of the island, released
them. The district called Drumcleathchoir* he obtained from a
neighbouring prince as a souvenir of a miracle performed there.
Aedh, King of Magh-Caim,6 also gave him a gift of territory.
Soon after he settled at Devenish a terrible plague, known as
Buidhe-Conall," broke out all over the country. Molaise's
intercessory power with God was so generally recognised throughout
the land that petitions poured in upon him from all sides, urging
him to intercede with God that the country might be freed from
that terrible visitation. Molaise prayed and the plague ceased. In
gratitude for that favour the men of Erin gave him many gifts and

i. Colgan, Acta Sanctorum Hibernlaa. 209a.

a. omnA-gAbCA—spell-bound or omtiAgADCA (pronounced ahanagava)—the field of the
arrested.
3. For an interesting dissertation on such prodigies, Bee O'Curry MS. Materials, pp. 342, et
seq.
4. Drum-cleathrach—the ridge of the clergy , or t> |tu m -c LeACCOi |t—the ridge of the milch cow.
3. mas-a plain ; and CAim (cAm) crooked.
6. Buidhe-ConaM. The Annals of Ulster, a.d. 555. record a great mortality from " Cron-Conaill,
i.e., Buide Conaill." Cron is a saffron colour, and Buidhe yellow. As the name of the disease is
Latinized flava pestls, we presume that it was of the nature of jaundice. A similar disease
devastated the country In the year 548, and again in 667. Vide Sir W.Wilde In " Report of Census
Commissioners of Ireland, 1851," vol I., part v.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 15

tributes, among the latter a screpall1 from every house having three
in family ; a cow from every king of a trichaced ;' a steed from
every provincial king ; a horse and battle-dress from the King of
Erin ; all to be delivered at Devenish on every Lughnussah (1st
day of August).
The original monastery, founded by Molaise, was, we
believe, situated about 80 yards West by North from the present
Abbey. In accordance with the custom of his time it was probably
built of wood and earth, and surrounded by an earthen circumvalla-
tion—some traces of which the visitor to Devenish cannot fail to
observe on his way from the ordinary landing place to the Abbey
Church. It is just possible that this extensive rath may have been
the residence of a princely family long before Molaise settled on
Devenish. Hagiology furnishes us with many instances of fifth
century Irish princes, on their conversion to Christianity, resigning
their places of strength to the Apostles, to be used by them for the
purposes of their mission. We regard this, however, as highly
improbable in the case of Devenish, because in no other island in
Lough Erne is there a trace of an ancient Royal Residence, while
numbers of them are found on the adjoining mainland. Their
absence from the islands may be accounted for by the fact that the
lake was, in those days, the great highway of the district, and the
facilities which it afforded for invasion rendered the islands insecure.
Wherever the monastery was situated, or of whatever material it
was built, its fame and usefulness seems to have increased daily
under the patronage of the wealthy and beneficent princes of
Fermanagh. To it flocked the young and the noble to adore the star
that attracted their eyes amidst the moral darkness that surrounded
them : and having been there refined and chastened, they returned
to diffuse amongst those with whom they came in contact the blessings
they had received. Many of the wealthy retiring from the storms
and turmoils of the world found within its walls an abode of peace
and piety. Enriched with the wealth they brought, it became,
in course of time, an abode of literature and virtue, hospitality
and charity, where the child of genius unbefriended by the world,
1. Screpall (Latin scripulum), Equivalent to the Roman scruple of 24 grains. Some of the
commentaries on the Brehon Laws speak of it as a piece of silver of the weight of from 21 to 24
grains of the wheat raised in good soil. Cormac's Glossary identifies screpall with diffing, which
O'Reilly explains as " a tribute of three pence." The word occurs frequently in the Annals of
Ulster in reference to the tithes paid to a bishop during his visitation. See E. G., a.d. 1068, 1106,
etc.
2. Trichaced=30 ballybeaghs=36o shesvaghs=43,20o acres.—(Reeves' Townland Distribu
tion).
16 Devenish: Its History,

found a home ; where the ascetic had an asylum, and thje desolate
and afflicted a place of comfort and consolation. Under the shadow
of its spreading cloisters saints grew up practised in virtue and
inured to labour, and skilled in the, art of communicating their
virtue and their learning to the crowds that flocked to the school
of Molaise.1
Of Molaise'sown literary attainments we have but scant record.
We have already quoted the quatrain in praise of Devenish attri
buted to him. In the Liber Hymiwrum, a MS. of the tenth century,
we have an Irish poem of twelve lines with the title Moelisa dixit,
(i.e., Molaise composed this poem), which shows us that the patron
of Devenish was amongst those
" Who, in times
Dark and untaught, began with charming verse
To tame the rudeness of their native land."
It is a sweet little prayer in which we see the fervently religious
spirit of its author.
POEM OF MOLAISSI.

1n Spijuic tloeb imnutnn,

Innunn ocup ocunn
1n Spinuc tloeb cnucunrt
taec a Chnir-c co n-opunn.
In Spinuc 11oeb •oAiccneb
A" cuinp if <.\n nAiitriA
"OiAnrniiStHiT> co folmu
An gAbU•o An 5Aln^.
A« t>emnAib An peccroAib
An ippejw co nil ulcc
A 1roi nonnoebA
UonpoeriA •oo ppinuc. 1n Spinuc.
" May the Holy Spirit be around us
Be in us and be with us :
May the Holy Spirit come to us,
O Christ, forthwith.
" The Holy Spirit, to abide in
Our bodies and our souls.
To protect us unto Jerusalem
From dangers, from diseases,
" From demons, from sins,
From hell with all its evils :
O Jesus, may thy Spirit
Sanctify us, save us."

i. Hallam, Muratorl, and many other authorities, admit that the Irish monasteries were In
the sixth, seventh, and eighth centuries centres of Intellectual light for the rest of Europe.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 17

Among the many famous saints of the name Molaise in the Irish
calendars, it would be difficult to determine who was the author of
this prayer, but that there is attached to it a Latin poem, with the
title, " Incipit imnus Lasriain id est, Molasse Daminnse"—"Here
begins the hymn of Laserian, i.e., Molaise of Devenish." This
hymn is evidently taken from an ancient office of the saint from
which were taken the antiphon and prayer given in a marginal note
of the Martyrology of Donegal, on September the 12th.
" Incipit imnus Lasriani .i. Molasse Daminnse.
" Abbas probatus omnino
Benedictus a Domino
Cum caritatis fructibus
Doctor Ecclesiasticus.
Electus Dei anthleta
Fidelis sine macula
Gregis pastor subagrinus
Humilis supplex submisus.
Jejunus, largisimus
Kastus cum rectis moribus
Lucerna erat in tota
Macculasrius Hibernia.
Nadfraich et sanctus Alius,
Optimus Dei filius
Probatus, sapiens, peritus,
Quern coronavit Dominus.
Requiescit post obitum
Securus in perpetuum
Tenebrarum rectoribus
Victis atque principibus.
Christo cum suis omnibus
Ymnum canit celestibus,
Zelus in quo fuit mirus
Dei prae participibus
Per merita Macculasri summi sacerdotis,
Adjuva nos, Christe, Salvator mundi qui regnas
Translation—
" The Hymn of Laserrian —i.e., Molaise of Devenish," begins —
" Abbot altogether worthy,
Blessed of God,
With the fruit of love,
Teacher revered.
Chosen champion of God,
Stainless, faithful one ;
Shepherd of the flock,
Humble, supplicant, gentle,
18 Devenish: Its History,

Self-denying, bountiful,
Pure, with strict morals.
Thy brief lamp was alight
In all Ireland,
Holy son of Nadfraich,
Best son of God,
Tried, wise, crowned.
Death past, he rests,
Safe for ever.
The powers of darkness conquered,
Its princes all subdued ;
With Christ and all His saints
A hymn he sings on high,
A hymn of wondrous zeal.
Through the merits of this saintly priest
Help us world's ruler—Christ."
The marginal annotations of the Martyrology of Donegal has
the following Antiphon and prayer on Sept. 12th:—" Vir Dei dum
verbum vitae populo praedicaret, visus est a terra sublimari et in
aere pendere, et mirati sunt universi. Adesto nobis, quaesumus
Domine, ut Beati Lasreani Confessoris tui Abbatis interventu ab
omni inquinatione mundemur corporis et mentis, per Xtum. D. N."
Having attained a great reputation for sanctity in his own country
Molaise determined to go to Rome, that he might perfect his life
there, and from thence he brought relics and some clay to his island
home.1 Before quitting Ireland he went to Ferns to visit his school
fellow and friend, Aiden, and the two saints entered into a new
covenant of friendship, binding themselves that whosoever should
merit the blessing of one should inherit the other's blessing also ;
and whosoever should incur the displeasure of one should incur at
the same time the other's displeasure likewise. Molaise broke his
journey at Tours where he spent some days around the scene of St.
Martin's life and labours." He arrived in Rome during the Lom-
bardic invasion of Italy, and found the gates of the city closed
against strangers. When, however, it was found that he was a
pilgrim from Ireland the Pope showed him every kindness, and
permitted him to say Mass at the shrine of the Apostles, "in the
presence of the whole community of Rome." How long he
sojourned in Rome the MS. Life does not say. Long enough,
evidently, to make a favourable impression on Pope John III., who
bestowed many presents on him at his departure, besides giving him,
1. MS. Life, R.l.A. (Dublin).
2. Bolandus : Acta sanctorum, Tom. III., Jan., p. 734. Irish Eccl. Record, VII., 317.
 Antiquities and Traditions. ig

as he requested, " relics of SS. Peter, Paul, Lawrence, Clement,

Stephen, of the garments of the Blessed Virgin, of St. Martin, and
other relics."
With these relics Molaise returned to Ireland, and his first visit
was paid to his friend Aiden, with whom he shared his treasures.1
In the cemetery at Devenish he deposited some of the clay he had
brought from the shrine of the Apostles," and, in consequence, great
privileges were attached to it."2
Ware's extracts from the Register of Clogher* inform us that St.
Molaise, on his return from Rome, exercised, by special delegation
from the Pope, a general jurisdiction over the whole Irish Church—
" Non solum Ergalliae sed totius Hiberniae principium habens,
tamquam sedis apostolicae legatus."
For upwards of a quarter of a century St. Molaise was regarded
as the final arbiter in all cases of dispute among the princes of
Ulster. To him was referred the settlement of the dispute between
Dermid MacCarbhaill and St. Ruadhan of Lothra, who had cursed
-Dermid, and foretold the destruction of Tara, A.D. 544.* He is
sometimes fabled to have advised St. Columba, after the battle of
Cooldreveny (A.D. 560), to serve God in a foreign land, and lead as
many souls to Him as there had been Christians slain in the battle.
" Go work, His Shepherd on the hillside, keep
Thy vigils by the fold, and let the frost
Of night, the noonday's drought consume thee ; bring
Through gusts upon the giddy mountain stair
The strayed lamb home ; and, for thy penance, bleed
Grappling the fanged wolf in his raven heart,
Thy blood for theirs. For every soul thy wrath
Sent to God's judgment-seat unshriven, bring
A hundred to the fold. Lo! I, Molasius,
Pronounce the sentence. Yet, not I, but Christ."5

It is scarcely necessary to say that this story has been proved

to be a mere fable, inconsistent in itself and destitute of historical
evidence. It is moreover opposed to the express statements of the
highest authorities, who agree that missionary zeal was the sole
motive of Columba's expedition.
1. MS. Life quoted by Miss Stokes.
1. See Mores Catholicae, Vol. I., pp. 539-616.
3. In Trinity College, Dublin.
4. See OT.ongan MSS. (R.I.A.) Vol. VIII ; Cogan, Diocese of Meath, Vol. I ; Bolandus,
Acta Sanctorum, Tom. II ; Elbana's Last Monarch of Tara, and Petrle's History and Antiquities
of Tara Hill, In Trans. R.I.A. Vol. XVII., p. »*j.
5. Skrine's Columba, Act I. Scene 3.
20 Devenish: Its History,

Among the Tochmarca or Tales of Courtship, on which O'Curry

places so much reliance, is a very ancient one entitled "Tochmarc
Beg Folad, ' —the Courtship of the Woman of Little Dowry," who
was sought in marriage by Diarmaid Mac Cearbhaill, Monarch of Ire
land, in the sixth century. An incident is there recorded which we
cannot pass over in silence, since it not only serves as an illustration
of the character of St. Molaiseand the generosity of an Irish monarch,
but refers, as we believe, to a highly treasured relic, to which we
shall refer later on. Four Ulster chieftains challenged their four
rivals to meet them in deadly combat in " Devenish of the Assem
blies."1 Seven of the warriors were slain and the eighth mortally
wounded. According to the Brehon code a monastery was entitled
to part of the property of any person who died intestate within the
sound of its bells.3 So Molaise, after burying the bodies of the
slain, sent four of his religious to King Diarmaid to know what part of
their property he would claim. It was on a Sunday that these
messengers arrived at the royal residence, and it being unlawful,
according to the Lain Domnaig* (rule for the observance of Sunday)
for a cleric to travel on the Lord's day, unless to attend a sick per
son who was not likely to live till the next morning, Diarmaid drew
his cloak over his head that he might not see them. The religious,
however, told him that it was " by order of their superior, and not
for their own pleasure, they had undertaken the journey" and having
described the combat, they thus continued: "The chieftains have
left behind them as much gold and silver as two men could carry,
i.e., of the gold and silver that was on their garments and on their
necks, and on their shields, and on their spears, and on their swords,
and on their hands, and on their tunics. We have come to know
what portion of this booty you desire." The king replied : " That
which God has sent to Molaise I will not take from him ; let him
make his reliquaries of it." And the narrative adds : "This, indeed,
was verified, for with that silver and gold the reliquaries of Molaise
were ornamented, viz., his shrine, and his minister and his crozier."
The account which this remarkable tale gives of the wealth of
ornament worn by those petty chieftains is corrobrated by the Tain
YSoChttailgne, where MacRoth gives Meav the following description of
i. Copies preserved in O'Curry MSS., Catholic University, and T.C.D. Library MSS., H. 2
6. and H. 3. 18.
2. Leabhar Breac, fol. 48. So late as 1239 Hugh O'Connor and Brian O'Neill held a confer
ence at Devenish.
3. See O'Curry," Manners and Customs," Vol. I, Introduction.
4. See " Yellow Book of Lecan," T.C.D. , Class II, 2, 16 ; Vol. 217.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 21

an Ulster chieftain's accoutrements : " A red and white cloak flutters

about him ; a golden broach in that cloak at his breast ; a shirt of
white, kingly linen with gold embroidery at his skin ; a white
shield with gold fastenings at his shoulder ; a gold hilted long sword
at his left side ; a long, sharp, dark green spear, together with a
short, sharp spear, with a rich band and carved silver rivets in his
hand."
Molaise is frequently set down in lists of the Bishops of
Clogher as the twelfth successor of St. Patrick, but we can find no
reliable historical authority for saying that he was ever raised to the
Episcopate. His acts furnish us with very few details of the
closing years of his life at Devenish. On September the 12th, 563,
he died,1 and the Annals of the Four Masters recording his death
say : " he was of exalted lineage, of the tribe of I rial, son of
Connal Cearnaigh, and seventh in descent from Crimon Badbraighe,
son of Eochaidh Cobha, son of Fiacha Araidh."
In the centre light of one of the stained glass windows in the
southern aisle of St. Michael's Church, Enniskillen, may be seen a
full length portrait of Molaise, which represents him in the abbatical
costume of the period, holding in his right hand the abbot's staff,
and in his left the famous soiscel. His friend Aedan occupies a
similar position in a neighbouring window.
1 The Chronicon Scolorum, London, 186S, p. 57, registers his dsath In 564. The annals of
Ulster repeat the entry under the year 570.
 MOLAISE'S HOUSE.

" A house of prayer, once consecrate

To God's high service— desolate !
A ruin where once stood a shrine !
Bright with the Presence all divine 1 "

ANY interesting chapters of Irish ecclesias

tical architecture may be studied on Devenish.
The first deals with the earliest style of
cyclopean church — of which Molaise's
House is an admirable example. Less than one
hundred years ago this interesting specimen of
early architecture was as perfect as when the
builders left it—to-day it is a roofless ruin.
If we are to trust a letter written in 1808, by
one John Frith, a local schoolmaster, to Dr. Porter,
Bishop of Clogher, the first injury done to it was at
the instance of a former bishop, who ordered the cut stones
of its roof to be used in flagging the Enniskillen Church!'
As we look to-day on its sadly delapidated condition, we
can well understand the indignation with which the Philomath
denounced the destruction of the most interesting heritage which
the past has transmitted to the present. We say with Sir Walter
Scott, that the humour of destroying monuments of piety and
munificence, and that, too, in a poor country, where there is little
chance of their being replaced, is at once mischievous and barbarous.
They are faithful witnesses of the past with which we should not
tamper. They bear infalliable testimony to the
intellectual greatness, the skill, the rich invention
and poetic imagination of our forefathers who
raised them with patient toil. " It is no question
of expediency or feeling whether we shall preserve
the buildings of past times or not, we have no right
whatever to touch them—they are not ours. They
belong partly to those who built them, and partly fragment o» quoin.
to all the generations of mankind whoare to follow us.
1. We have carefully examined the floor of Knntsklllcn Church ami have found nothing
whatever to verify Frlth's statement.
 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities and Traditions. 23

The dead still have their right in them. ... It matters not whether
in rage or in deliberate folly, the people who destroy everything
causelessly are a mob: and archi
tecture is always destroyed cause
lessly."1 Our duty to them is to
guard them with jealous care,
but to do it tenderly and reverently.
Speaking of this house, Dr.
Petrie says :—" I gla'dly avail
myself of the concurrent opinion
of Sir Richard Colt Hore—viz.,
that this house was certainly the
original chapel ... of the
Stone Roof—Molmse's House. saint who first sought retirement
in this island." In a poem on the
" Characteristic Virtues of the Irish Saints," written by Cuimin
of Connor, about the year 650,* we have a reference to Molaise,
which strengthens the opinion of Hore and Petrie—
" Molaise of the lake loved
To live in a house of hard stone ;
Strangers' home for the men of Erin,
Without refusal, without a sign of inhospitality."

In every reference we have found to the stone-roofed church on

Devenish, it is spoken of as Molaise's House. Its ponderous
Cyclopean masonry may date back to the latter half of the sixth
century. Dr. Petrie was convinced that it does. St. Molaise, whose
name it bears, " loved to live in a house of hard stone," and thereby
distinguished himself from his contemporaries
in the neighbourhood who resided in the
primitive wattle and clay dwellings. He
must, therefore, have had a stone residence.
What reason can there be for denying that
the " house of hard stone," which was perfect
less than one hundred years ago, which we
have succeeded in restoring on paper, and
East Window.
which may, architecturally, be attributed to

1 Ruskln, Seven Lamps of A rchitecture.

2. Colgan, Acta Sanctorum.
24 Devenish : Its History,

his time, is the identical one in which he lived and prayed more
than 1,330 years ago ?'
A writer in the Old Ulster Journal, vol. iv., says " the walls
rose vertically about half-way and then sloped inwards, forming an
ogee arch, which supported a swift roof of stone." But so far from
sloping inwards, the southern wall although three feet ten inches in
thickness, actually slopes outwards to the height of six feet. This

outward slope is evidently the result of the pressure of the heavy

stone roof, and militates seriously against the theory of an ogee

1. The orientation of the house would go to show that it was built at least before Malaise's
feast began to be observed on Devenish. It is very little over one degree out of the due east
and west. Its builders evidently followed the system of orientation recommended by St. Isodore,
and strictly adhered to by Durandus. According to them the east should be taken at the
Equinox, ''so that lines drawn from east to west would make the sections of the sky on the right
and left hand equal, In order that he who prayed should look at the direct east." (Durandus
Rationale v. ii. 57.) The early Christian Irish, in building memorial churches, always took their
east on their Patron Saint's Feast Day. This was evidently done in determining the position of
the windows in the Round Tower. The fact of it not having been done in building the house
would go to show that the house was built while Molaise was still living.
 Antiquities, and Traditions. 25

arch. Whatever architectural anachronisms may be found in

Molaise's House, an ogee nrch was certainly not amongst them.
It is quite possible that the roof, after some of the stones that
supported it had been removed, sagged a little towards the ridge,
giving it an ogee appearance which deceived others as it did a
Frenchman named Besaucele, who made a drawing of it in 1824.
The most accurate among the old drawings of the House we have
seen is that given in the plate of Devenish, published in Ledwich's
Antiquities.
We collected a number of peculiarly dressed stones that were
lying about the House, and that seemed to have belonged to the
roof, and after adjusting and re-adjusting them we succeeded in
forming a portion of the roof represented in the illustration (page
23). They enabled us also to make an elevation of the gable. The
perpendicular height from the square was 17 ft. 6in. The roof
^stones were cut to the required slope, and laid in regular courses,
the lower edge of each course projecting one and a-half inches over
the top of the preceding course. These projecting edges are so
champered that their lower surface (when in situ) stood out almost
at right angles to the plane of the roof. The corner pilasters were
carried over the roof in a barge course 8J in. wide and projecting
3 in. over the gable. The stones of this barge are devoid of
ornament, but each of them is chiselled off
on the roof-side from a depth of ijin. at the
top to less than T^ in. at the bottom.1 This
hollowed surface determined in each case
the pitch of the corresponding course of
roof-stones. We have been unable to find
any trace of either the finial stones of the
gables, or the corbels that joined the pilasters
with the barge course. Judging from a num-
barge stone. ber of old drawings before us, we are inclined
to believe that each of the gables terminated in a single triangular
stone as represented in the elevation (page 26). Besaucele represents
the western gable as rising in a sort of pinnacle a few feet over the
ridge, but his drawing is so inaccurate in other details that it cannot
be credited in this.

1 During a recent visit to Melllfont we saw among the fragments In the Chapter House a
barge stone exactly like those of Molaise's House.
26 Devenish : Its History,

Only about three feet

high of the doorway
remains. It was sur
rounded by a flat pro
jecting band or archi
trave, 8 in. x £ in., such
as is found " on the
doorways of the oldest
Greek and Roman
Door, Molaise's House. buidings, as well as on
those of the earliest Ro
man churches."1 The
door of Ratass Church, County Kerry, which is perfectly Cyclopean,
is the nearest approach we know of to the style of the Devenish
doorway. It measures 6 ft. from the threshold to the lintel, and in
width, 3 ft. i in. at the sill, and 2 ft. 8 in. at the top. A somewhat
similar architrave is found on the Church of our Lady, Glendalough,
which, according to popular tradition, was the first church erected
in that valley by St. Kevin, about the middle of the 6th century.
The Devenish doorway is not
splayed, but it is furnished with
a jamb iojin. thick, behind which
there is a recess 4 in. deep. On
the outside at the sill it is 2 ft.
3} in. wide, and on the inside 2 ft.
n£ in. wide.
What makes this Church
perfectly unique of its kind, and
throws such a mystery around its
age, is the beautiful sculpturing
of its pilaster quoins. They are
8£ in. wide and 3 in. deep. The
accompanying illustration gives
a clearer idea of their style of
ornamentation than any words
could convey. The cyclopean
masonry of the House belongs to West Elevation—Molaise's House.
a very early period. Dr. Petrie,
who examined it, and who was an authority on the subject, saw no
1. Petrle, p. 169.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 27

reason to doubt that Molaise performed his devotions in it. But

Petrie must not have examined its sculptured quoins or he would
have pronounced them to be work of the 10th or nth century.
From the position- which they occupy, and the great distance the
stones of which they are a part extend into the wall, it is quite
clear that they were not, as has been suggested, inserted hundreds
of years after the church was built. It is no unusual thing to find
the sidewalls of our earliest stone churches extending some distance
beyond the gables. In the Taempull-na-Bfear, Inismurry, they
extend one foot on the Eastern side, and not on the Western. In

North-West Pilaster, Molaisb's House.

MacDara's Church they extend on both sides.1 We can account

for the architectural anachronism which the Devenish pilasters
involve only by supposing that they were left perfectly plain at
first, just like the projecting sidewalls of MacDara's Church, and
centuries afterwards carved as we now find them.
It is probable that here, as in St. Kevin's " kitchen," the side
walls were finished with a projecting string course. Excavating a
short time ago the site of what is known as Molaise's Bed, we found
a rim-mortised stone, like the cornice stones of the Round Tower,
1. Proceedings Royal Society of Antiquaries—paper by F. J. Bigger, 1896.

I
28 Devenish : Its History,

which we believe must have belonged to this cornice. In an old

engraving (undated) before us, this string course is represented as
running right through the gable as it does in St. Kevin's Kitchen.
The House must have been in a ruinous condition when Dr.
Petrie saw it, since Hore, who examined it in 1806, found it so
delapidated that he speaks of " its fragments." Whether or not
Petrie saw its window in situ we cannot say. He does not speak of
it. The drawing made in 1824 shows a small round-headed
window in the eastern gable. None of the other drawings with
which we are acquainted represent it. We have succeeded,
however, in collecting the stones which formed its arch, and after
fitting them together obtained a drawing of it. It was
formed of well-cut stone, with very fine points, and splayed
inwards. Like most other windows of its age and class, it was
totally devoid of ornamentation. A somewhat similar window is
described in the Ordnance Survey Letters as existing in the ancient
Church of Agha, near Leighlin Bridge. It is built of chiselled
granite, round-headed, and measures internally 3 ft. 8 in. by 8 ft.
We have often conversed with an old man who was present
during the digging of Molaise's House and the Round Tower,
described in the " Ulster Journal" by Getty, ' and who fully
corroborates the facts there recorded. He says he saw the human
remains dug out of the floor of Molaise's House. Without
committing ourselves to Getty's conjecture that these were the
remains of Molaise ; or still less to the interesting, though ridiculous,
phrenological deductions he draws from their formation, we believe
that the remains of Molaise were originally deposited in the stone-
roofed Chapel. Seward, Topographies Hibernica (1795), speaking of
St. Molaise, says: —"And here are his remains contained in a
vaulted building of hewn stone, called Molaise's House." Ledwich
says, " the oldest building here is Molaise's House and a fine Round
Tower. The former contains the relics of St. Laserain or Molaise."
Without coming into serious conflict with the estimate we usually
form of the monk's veneration for his patron saint, we could not
suppose that the little earthen mound, ten yards N.W. from the
door of Molaise's House, and known as Molaise's Bed, was his
original burial place. Very probably it was the site of a bee-hive
cell ; but it was only after the House fell into ruins that the modern

1 Old Series. Vol. IV.

 A ntiquities and Traditions. 29

Bed was constructed and the coffin placed in it. On digging it in

the summer of 1896 we found that it had a groundwork of stones,
amongst which were a number of the " hewn stones" from the roof
of the House, showing clearly that it was constructed within the
present century.
The stone coffin at present preserved in the north-western
corner of the Great Church is generally supposed to have been the
• one in which the remains of Molaise were interred. It is cut out of
calp sandstone, which is found plentifully in boulders around the
lake shore, and out of which the House and Round Tower are built.
It measures 5 feet 6 inches by 1 foot 10 inches. A good many

Stone Coffin.

years ago it fell a victim, like many another Devenish relic, to the
vandalism of some soldiers from Enniskillen, who amused
themselves by smashing it. It has recently been repaired with so
much skill that many examine it without noticing the restoration.
In the days of the Patron, when the feast of St. Molaise was
observed on Devenish every recurring 12th of September, and when
thousands from the surrounding country
" left their cot for the holy well,
Near the cross in the valley flowing,
Whose bright blue tide hath a seraph's spell,
Light and joy to the blind bestowing,"
the coffin was credited with possessing extraordinary curative
properties, and even still the tourist's "guide, philosopher, and
friend " on the island, gravely assures him that if he can manage to
crush his limbs into the coffin, and turn round three times in it
while expressing any wish, that wish is sure to be gratified.
Considering the difficulty of the task, very few, we- believe, feel
disposed to put his veracity to the test. You need not, however,
put inconvenient questions to any member of your party who lingers
behind among the ruins. It is hard to eradicate superstition.
 THE SHESKEIL MOLAISE.

OOD taste deeply imbued our Irish forefathers

with the modern bibliomaniac's horror of "cutting
and binding." While on the Continent copies of
the Sacred Scriptures, Missals, and Antiphonaries
—especially if they belonged to a patron saint—
were furnished with bindings so ornamental and
costly that they were frequently considered a
sufficient ransom for a monarch, in Ireland they
were regarded as far too sacred to be entrusted to
the sacrilegious hands of the bookbinder —far too
precious to be rendered more valuable by the
addition of gold or diamonds. They were kept
untouched, or placed in all their rude simplicity
in shrines on which the artist's skill was freely
lavished. Long ago " almost every Irish Church
of any note was provided with a costly reliquary and a Cumdach—
that is, a case made of gold, embossed bronze, or silver, in which
a copy of the Gospels and other sacred writings were enclosed,
and which was generally ornamented in the richest manner and
inlaid with precious stones."1 Three of the oldest of these shrines
now known to exist belonged to Fermanagh—one, the famous
Domnach Airgid, the silver shrine containing a copy of the Gospels,
given by St. Patrick to St. Macarten on the latter's appointment to
the See of Clogher; the second, a ioth century bronze shrine
which was dredged from Lough Erne in 1891 ; and the third, the
shrine under consideration.
The Cumdach, or book shrine, known as the Soscel Molaise, is an
oblong bronze box, measuring 5^ inches x 4^ inches x 3^. It is
formed of five plates of bronze—back, front, two gables, and the
base, overlapping at the edges and rivetted together. The lid is
missing. The ornamentation, which is made up of plates of silver,
with gilt patterns rivetted to the bronze groundwork, we shall
describe seriatim, and in detail, beginning with the base. The base,
1 In the Life of St. Columba, In the Book of Llsmore, we read that the saint wished to have
the Great Church built by Mobl filled with gold and silver to cover relics and shrines withal—
Ancctlola Oxaniensia, Part V-, p. 171.
 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities, and Traditions. 3i

which, as we have said, measures 5J inches by 3$ inches, is divided

into three large panels, which, like the four corners and four
intermediate spaces, have lost their ornament. They were probably
filled with interlaced patterns. The prevailing feature of the tracery
remaining on this side is the triquetra knot, symbolic of the Trinity,
and a long-eared lizard that seems determined to swallow something.
Around three of its edges runs the inscription, which enables us to
fix the date of the shrine.
+ Ot«>ic t>o [cenn] j.wiUvo no chonnvpbA moU|ti U\p ah
[t>eptuvo] in cuivcoach \-o . . . . + octip t>o sillubdichin diet"> no
p15111 111 5|veiw.
" A prayer for [Cenn] failad, for [the] successor of Molaise, by
whom this case was [made] ... and for Gillabaithin, the
artificer who executed the embossment."
Cennfailid, son of Flaithberbach, was Abbot of Devenish from
1001 till 1025 A.D. The Cundach was therefore made within the
first quarter of the nth century.
The opus Uibernictim on
the sides is of the same pattern
(with slight variations) as
that on the base, but the
ecclesiastic standing in one
of the panels deserves a
special notice. He is vested
in an embroidered alb and
chasuble. The chasuble,
which resembles the modern
cope more than the ancent
chasuble, seems to have a
hood or collar, terminating
in a well-defined Vandyke
pattern. This figure is sup
posed to represent Molaise
himself. In the right hand
he holds an aspersory, and in
the left a book—probably
the Soiscel. The ecclesiastic
is barefooted, and his beard Clasp of Case of Molaisf.'s Gospel.

1. O'Donovan and Petrie's reading of the inscription.

32 Devetiish : Its History,

is bifurcated—an unusual thing in figures of that time. On the

right-hand side was rivetted an elaborately-wrought hinge, by which
the shrine was opened and closed. Corresponding with the hinge,
on the opposite side, was a ring staple, through which a strap
was passed for suspending the shrine round the neck of the carrier.

The front of the shrine is very richly ornamented Its

distinctive feature is a magnificent Irish cross, dividing it into four
panels, in which are four symbolical representations of the
Evangelists. On the right of these figures are the symbolical
names—Homo, Bonis, Leo, Aquila ; while on the left art their real
 Antiquities and Traditions. 33

names—Math., Lucas, Marc, Johan. It will be seen from the

illustrations that all four figures present the divergent spirial
ornamentation so characteristic of early Irish art. We know of no
other early Irish metal work which approaches so closely the
exquisitely-finished tracery of the Book of Kells as does the work
on this side of the shrine.
Vain is the desire that we might behold this relic in its original
perfection and beauty, covered with marvels of ornamental work,
and enriched with figures illustrating the ecclesiastical costume of
the early part of the
nth century. I nthe
presence of the intricate
interlacements and mi
nute elaboration of even
the smallest details of
ornamentation remain
ing on it, it is im
possible to deny the
marvellous skill, the
fertile imagination, and
the artistic excellence
which distinguished the
ioth and hth century
Irish metal workers.
Unfortunately , very few
specimens of their
work have been pre
served.
The copy of the
Gospels enshrined in
Outline Cross from the Gospel Cover.
this case was, according
to one account, brought from Rome by St. Molaise. According to
another account, which seems to be confirmed by the Irish Life to
which we have so often referred, it was written for Molaise by the
sons of Declan during a visit to his Monastery on Devenish. The
MS. is there said to have been completed in two days and one
night ; the night being as bright as the day.
This cumdach we believe to have been like the outer case of the
Domnach Airgid and the Lough Erne Shrine, the successor of a more
humble shrine that encased the precious manuscript back to the
34 Devenish : Its History,

days of Molaise. From the quotation we have already given from

the " Tochmarc Begfolad" it is evident that Molaise had a book
shrine. King Dairmid told the saint to ornament his reliquaries
with the gold and silver left on the island by the combatants ; and
the narrative adds :—" This indeed was verified, for with the silver
and the gold the reliquaries of Molaise were ornamented—viz., his
shrine, his minister, and his crozier."
For many centuries theO'Mechansof Ballymeehan, 1Comharbas
of St. Molaise, were the custodians of this interesting relic, as the
MacMoyers were of the Book of Armagh, the Buckleys of the
Shrine of St. Manchain, and the parish priest of Drumlane, for the
time being, of the Breac Moedog. In the course of time the family
spread over the Dioceses of Clogher, Kilmore and Elphin, and the
possession of the shrine was hotly contested between the Bishops
and Priests of these Dioceses. Some time in the 12th century it
fell into the hands of an Elphin O'Meehan, who, in misguided zeal
to end the controversy, burned the precious manuscript. Two
centuries later a Manorhamilton Meehan removed part of the
ornamentation from the shrine and sold it to a Sligo watchmaker.
Although robbed of its greatest treasure, it continued to be regarded
with great veneration down till the middle of the present century.
It was supposed to possess miraculous powers of healing ; was
efficacious in the detection of theft ; and became a talisman upon
which oaths were sworn and solemn obligations entered into : the
violator of such being supposed to draw down upon himself the
vengeance of heaven. The custodian was accustomed to let it out,
free of charge, to those who required it for charing cases or solemnis
ing contracts, the borrower pledging a sum of £5 for its safe return.
On those occasions it was carried around in a plain leather case,2 to
which was attached a strap for suspending it from the neck. When
about to be used the cover was removed, so that the person
swearing upon it could touch it with his right hand. About the
year 1840 3 it was sent for by the Judge in the Sligo Courthouse to
1 In olden times the Parish of Devenish extended along the lake shore, almost to Garrison,
and included Ballymeehan In the County Leitrlm. See Ord. Survey Maps.
2 The Leathern Satchel used for carrying a reliquary was known as a MenUtir, while the
Satchel used for carrying books was termed a Polaire. See O' Donovan's Supplement to O'Reilly's
Irish Dictionary. The Satchel of the Breac Moedog is preserved in the Museum of the R.I. A.
3 See Dr. Petrie's Letter to Lord Adare, dated October 19th, 1843.
Stokes- Life of Petrie, p. 274 et seq.
A document preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey shows that the English
Authorities in Ireland did not fail to take advantage of Irishmen's veneration for the relics of
the Saints. It is "An Examination of One Sir Gerald MacShane, Knight, March igth, 1920, upon
the llolie Mase boke, and the Great relicke of Erlomie called Baculum Christi, etc. State Papers,
Vol. II, p. 146.
 Antiquities, and Traditions. 35

swear some witnesses whose oath on the Testament was not to be

relied upon. It was to the northern portions of Fermanagh, Leitrim
and Sligo what the Domnach was to the Clones neighbourhood, and
there are many persons still living who saw it used.1 One of these,
the Very Rev. Dr. Maguire, P.P., Manorhamilton, tells the follow
ing story : " When I was a boy, a certain cattle dealer got under .
the influence of drink in a lodging-house owned by Cormac Ferguson,
in Manorhamilton. He remained there all night, and next morning
when sober, complained that a ^"io note had been stolen out of his
pocket. Ferguson, who was jealous of the good name of his house,
closed the doors and would not allow any one to go out until the
matter was investigated. He sent for the Soiscel and all who were
in the house cleared themselves in turn—among others a servant
girl. That evening she lost her reason, and in a lucid interval told
her master where she had secreted the money." Quite recently a
gentleman to whom we mentioned this story gave us a remarkable
confirmation of its truth. He told us that some thirty years ago he
heard the story from an old labourer who had been a servant in
Ferguson's employment when the money was lost, and who cleared
himself amongst the rest, on the Soiscel.
For those who may be disposed to laugh at the miraculous in
this story, it may be well to remark that the mysterious power
attributed to the shrine, and the consciousness of guilt in those who
sacreligiously violated it, sufficiently accounts for the result.
In 1859 the Royal Irish Academy employed the Rev. Alexander
Smullan, B.A., Rector of Ballymeehan,1 to purchase for their Museum
the shrine of St. Molaise from Charles Meehan of Latoon Bridge,"
in the same parish, the last representative of the hereditary keepers.
He effected the purchase at ^75. He also collected the local
traditions about the Soiscel, and embodied them in a paper which
is preserved in the Academy, and from which we extract the
following mythical account of the shine :—
j The Rev. Joseph Meehan, Belhavel, Dromahalr, Co. Leltrlm, a cousin of Charles Meehan
from whom the Snrlne was purchased for the Academy, writes : " There Is hardly one of the old
people for miles around Manorhamilton who did not see It used ; and everyone within a radius of
20 or 30 miles around Ballymeehan who remembers anything beyond 1858 remembers to see the
Soiscel sworn on. The Rev. John M'Manus, P.P., Ballymeehan, saw It sworn on In Glenfarne
where he was reared. Patrick Connolly, Glenade, saw It used there ; and the Rev. Stephen
M'Ternan, P.P., M.R.I.A., knew of Its being used in his native Klllargue. A man named Gallagher
In Klllargue, told me he saw his father bring It to clear up a case about wool that had Deen
stolen from him. The thief cleared himself, but when an accident befel him soon after he admitted
his guilt."
2 Now Rector of Drumkeeran, Co. Leltrlm.
3 Charles Meehan Is since dead, as Is also his son Laserlan. He purchased the shrine from a
kinsman of his at a nominal price about the year 1840. (Stokes' " Life of Petrle.")
36 Devenish : Its History,

St. Molaise, with his dying breath, requested that the Soiscel,
which he valued more than anything else on earth, should be built
up in a wall round his favourite well, Tubbar Molaise. His wishes
were complied with, and this consecrated the wall in the eyes of
that locality for all coming generations. On through the dark ages,
and up till the present century, this well was the centre of
attraction to all ; the surrounding people. From the districts that
now bear the names of Fermanagh, Leitrim, Sligo and Mayo the
people flocked in thousands to celebrate the patron. They knelt
about the well, and with oft-repeated prayers to the Patron Saint,
they drank morning and evening, for seven days together, the
chrystal waters of Tubbar Molaise.1
In the parish of Ballymeehan there existed furious factions,
and each succeeding patron and fair developed their worst features,
and left its own tale of bloodshed and murder behind. Sometime
about the twelfth century (the date cannot be put in figures), there
was one man in Ballymeehan whose predominant desire was to
see an end of those factions— that man was Molaise O'Meehan, the
parish priest. He was a man of peace and prayer. It grieved his
saintly soul that the curse of blood should fall amongst his people ;
and late one night—it was the depth of hoary winter and the virgin
snow lay deep upon the ground—after kneeling long and earnestly
over his breviary, he retired to rest. He thinks of the evil spirit of
faction that exists amongst his flock, and of the many murders
committed : he prays that by some means or other the evil deeds
may come to light, that the guilty may be punished, the contending
parties reconciled—and he goes to sleep. His mind is full of one
idea. His sleep is a troubled one. He dreams. Job and Jacob
and Joseph dreamed their dreams, and why should not the pastor
of Ballymeehan ! An awful scene presents itself. The Holy
Well; the faction fight ; the uplifted weapon, the wild shout, the
parties bent on bloodshed. But a change comes over the shadow
of his dream. In mid-air, as if suspended " twixt earth and
heaven," clothed in shining garments like an angel, appears the
venerable form of the patron saint. He decends into their midst,
and the contending parties separate before him. He waves his hand
towards the Tobbar Molaise and the boundary wall opens out
displaying the Soiscel safe and sound, and bright with gold and silver

1 It Is more than 40 years since the patron celebration at Molaise's well was put down by the
Rev. M'Gourty, the parish priest.
 Antiquities, and Traditions. 37

as of old. The vision remains fixed in the mind of the aged priest.
He loses no time in opening the wall, and he finds the Soiscel just
as he had seen it in his dream. He brings it to his humble abode ;
he opens it, and there is the venerable manuscript. He summons
the contending parties before him, for he is determened to find out
who is guilty and who innocent, and the Soiscel will serve his
purpose. The penalty of a false oath on it is madness in this world
and damnation in the next. One after another they lay their hands
on the shrine and declare their part in the factions, and promise
amendment, and more than one of them left the place raving
maniacs. Faction fights were heard of no more in Ballymeehan.
This narrative, evidently the product of a fertile imagination,
we have given at some length, because it illustrates the veneration
in which the relics of the saints were held, and it may not be
altogether without foundation in fact. The Soiscel, in a former
cover, may have been hidden away for a time to prevent the abuses
arising from superstitions veneration, just as in later times images,
crosses, &c, were buried or built up to prevent an improper
use being made of them.
This shrine is now one of the most highly-prized treasures of our
national museum. The South Kensington museum obtained some
years ago an exact fac-simile of it, and a similar reproduction was
made for the Chicago Exhibition. When it is remembered how few
works of the kind remain to attest the perfection attained by our
early and mediaeval metal workers no apology for our having devoted
so much space to it will be necessary. In the numerous incursions
of the wild Scandinavian hordes, who infested our coasts, many of
these invaluable works of Irish art perished. The Danes came and
saw and plundered. The monasteries of Lough Erne suffered
severely at their hands. The annalists dismiss the subject with a
mere statement that the monasteries of Lough Erne were plundered
in such or such a year, but their pages furnish us with no data to
help imagination in forming a picture of the devastation they
wrought. In the summer of 1891, however, some fishermen in the
Lower Lake drew up, at the end of a line, a record of their vandalism
that gives imagination full scope in outlining the loss we have sus
tained in those periodic raids. It is a beautiful little bronze shrine,
measuring 7 inches in length, 3^ inches in width, and 5$ inches in
height. Were it not for its hipped gables one might mistake it for
38 Devcnish : Its History,

a model, in miniature, of one of our ancient stone churches. ' It

was found in 24 feet of water off Abbey Point, on the western side
of the lake, nearly midway between Enniskillen and Belleek. Abbey
Point is charmingly situated on the lake shore, just the place that
an ascetic, with an eye for scenic beauty, would select for a mon
astery. Here are evident traces of an embankment enclosing about
half a rood of ground, which, taken with the name of the place,
leads us to believe that a monastery once stood here. True, Mervyn
Archdall, who spent much of his time at the family seat on the

Lough Ernis Shrine.—Front View.

opposite shore of the lake, makes no mention of it, but he is equally

silent about the 8th century churches on Davies Island and White
Island, within a gunshot of Castle Archdall.2 Neither has he a
word about the monastery that once stood within the precincts of
the Archdall Deer Park. All the other writers on monastic history
are equally silent about it, but their silence counts for nothing in
' 1 The Rev. Fr. O'Reilly, P.P., Drumlan, writing of the Breac Moedog, in March, 1866,
observes, " It Is said by the people of the parish who saw it to resemble very closely in shape the
great church of Drumlano, now In ruins, of which It Is here generally believed to nave been the
plan in mlnlaturu.
a ScuH. J. A., Vol. Ill, p. a, p. 1H1.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 39

face of the positive evidence we have for its existence. Local tradi
tion there is none. The change of inhabitants introduced by the
Plantation in the early part of the seventeenth century destroyed
tradition ; while the arbitrary change of place names around Lough
Erne, consequent on that Plantation, renders the reconciliation of
existing remains with the records of hagiology extremely difficult—
often impossible. On Tully hill, overlooking Abbey Point, are the
remains of a Plantation castle,1 erected possibly from the remains of
the abbey by Sir John Hume before 161 8. It was sacked by Rory
Maguire and his following in 1641, and has since been crumbling to
ruins. Could its stones but speak and tell us the history of the old
abbey in which they were first packed together, we would probably
have a clue to the history of the Lough Erne shrine ; for we believe
that it belonged to the monks who served God in the romantic
dell that is sheltered by Tully hill, and that looks out upon the most
charming lake scene in Ireland.
The Shrine could not have been thrown from the shore to the
place where it was found ; and the monks, if sinking it to secure it
from an enemy, would not have selected twenty-four feet deep of water
to secret it. It must then have been dropped from a boat by those
who had no intention of recovering it. What is more likely than
that the Danes, after plundering the monastery on Abbey Point, and
placing all its valuables in their boats, proceeded to examine their
booty, as they rowed up the lake towards Inismacsaint. The
elaborate ornamentation of the Shrine would readily direct attention
to it. It was the first thing they examined. Finding that it
contained neither gold nor silver, they heaved it overboard, and
went on to something else. It sank to the bottom, and was soon
forgotten. The fisherman who found it, in 1891, tore it open, and
finding no treasure within, was about " to send it whence it came "
when his companion advised him to bring it to Thomas Plunket,
of Enniskillen, " who is crazed about those old things," "and who
always buys whatever is brought to him." Thomas Plunket saw
more in the Shrine than either the Danes or the fishermen, and in
purchasing it he added to his valuable collection of antiquities one
of the most interesting relics we possess.
This Shrine, like the Domnach A irgid and most other ornamental
Shrines, was merely the outer covering of a more ancient casket.
In the present instance, the greater part of the inner casket remains
1 See U. J. A., Vol. I, No. IV., p. 257.
4o Devenish : Its History,

within the Shrine. It was surrounded by two pieces of yew,

scooped out so as to form a close-fitting case, and this wooden case
seems to have formed the block upon
which the outer Shrine was made.
The- most characteristic features of
the Shrine are the ornamental ridge
and the plaques which cover the
junction of the roof and sides. Of
the latter only one remains. It
presents a very fine specimen of
lozenge-pattern interlaced work. The
ridge shows five different patterns
of interlacing executed in the very
best style of Irish art. The inter
lacing on its two shoulders is extremely I. (huh Erne Shrine—Ornamental Boss
delicate and beautiful. It partly surrounds, on each, a triquetra knot,
symbolic of the Trinity ; and this is the only feature it has in
common with Molaise's Shrine.
On one side of the roof is a
boss, and on the side under it
are remains of two others.
The opposite side shows traces
of having had three bosses
corresponding with these. The
boss on the roof has suffered
very little from its long im
mersion in Lough Erne. It is
ornamented with a beautiful
and symmetrical pattern, show
ing an admixture of spiral and
interlacing that is perfectly
unique in early metal work.
The only other trace of orna
mentation remaining is on the
lower part of a hinge fastened
to one of the ends. It pre
sents two different specimens of
interlacing.1 One very elabor- Lough Erne Shrine— Gable.

i One of these patterns is exactly like the interlaced ornamentation on a sword-hilt of glided
bronze, found In 1855, in a barrow at Ultima, near the river Fyris. It is figured by Montelius,
Ancient Swedish Civilisation, p. 137.
 Antiquities and Traditions.

ate, and bearing a strong resemblance to the work on one

of the panels of the base of Molaise's Shrine, fills the cen
tral semicircle ; the other of a simpler pattern, not unlike the

-fj H^^%' ■

^affi
UsB-
HrVlSl. ^t*-»^-v. f -1
™ J
/ . .
VJH
ft
\&;s
--

Castle Archdale.

plated work on Devenish cross, forms the border. It is not

unlikely, that like the hinge on the Moneymusk Shrine, the upper
portion of this hinge terminated in a ring above the ridge of the
roof, from which a chain or cord
passed to a corresponding one on
the opposite side, thus affording
a means of securing the Shrine,
and of carrying it from place to
• place.
In the absence of an inscription
on the Shrine itself, and of any
historical reference to it, it is
impossible to fix its age with
any degree of accuracy. Eminent
Boss, Moneymuse Shrine. authorities on Irish metal work
have assigned it to a period not
later than the ioth century, and we have no hesitation in adopting
their opinion.
 -(

THE CLOICH-TEAC (ROUND TOWER), DEVENISH

1'hoto by Mercer, Etmiskillen.
 THE ROUND TOWER.

OPULARLY the most attractive feature of

Devenish is the Round Tower, which comes after
, Molaise's House in order of antiquity. It is
one of the largest, most beautiful, and most per
fect in Ireland From the measurements appended,
which we made with the greatest care during the
summer of 1896, when the Tower was being repaired
by the Board of Works, it will be seen that it has
many interesting structural features which are peculiar
to itself, and render it unique among the Pillar
Towers of Ireland. To each of these we will allude
in due course.
Its total vertical height, including plinth, cornice,
and cone, is 81 ft. 4f in. The circumference at
the base is 49 ft. 9 in. ; immediately under the
cornice it is 42 ft. 7 in. We often find it
stated, on apparently good authority, that the towet tapers
gradually from the base to a little better than half its height, and
is perfectly vertical from that to the top. This is untrue. Our
measurements showed a gradual diminution in the external diameter
from the plinth to the cone. The same cannot be said of the
internal diameter, for the thickness of the walls, which recede a
few inches above each string course, gradually increases to the
height of the next string course. A careful measurement showed
two inches of an increase in the thickness of the wall in the last six
feet of the tower. This peculiarity is very well shown in the
accompanying section.
The door which is situated almost due east is 8 ft. 6j in. from
the plinth, and measures 5 ft. 3 in. in height and 2 ft. in width. It
is round-headed, the joints of the stones out of which the arch is
cut being so fine that they are almost imperceptible. The sides of
the door are perfectly parallel, and the only ornamentation about it
is a flat projecting band exactly like the architrave of Molaise's
House. On the inside of the door to the left, and immediately
44 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

under the spring of the arch, there is a stout iron hinge on which
the door was hung, while directly under it, in the sill, there is a hole
for the heel of the door to play in. A mortice, about midway up on
the right hand side, evidently intended to receive a bar for fastening
the door, is broken away as if the door had been forced from the
outside.
Directly over the door there is a window with a rectilineally
pointed arch, which, while serving like each of the other opes, to
light a storey of the tower, may have been used in case of attack as
a vantage ground from which to defend the door.
The tower was originally divided into five flights or stories, the
floors having been supported on offsets which ran all the way round
the interior and projected about six inches. Between each pair of
offsets are two large corbels that were evidently intended to support
a stairway. On a level with the cornice, and immediately under the
conical cap, there is a similar string course which could hardly have
been intended to support a floor, since the space above it is so small
that it could not have served any purpose. It may have been used
to support the beams on which the bells were hung, or more likely
still, a sounding board, which the contour of the roof would render
very necessary.
Each of the floors, with the exception of the uppermost one,
was lighted by a small ope or window. The upper story has four
fine square-headed windows, which, roughly speaking, face the
cardinal points. The most interesting feature of the tower is its
richly-sculptured cornice under the cap, which displays four quaintly-
cut human heads over the four windows. All the illustrations we
have seen of this cornice and the heads are inaccurate. We
reproduce fac-similes of photographs taken during the past summer.
At the present time the heads over the southern and western windows
are so weather-worn that the lower part of the face is shapeless.
The forehead and eyes, which are fairly preserved, show that they
were similar to the eastern face which is in an excellent state of
preservation. The northern face is better preserved than either the
southern or western, though the storms of a thousand years have
left their mark upon it. Unlike the others it is beardless. It has
been conjectured that the four faces represent the four Evangelists
—the beardless one representing St. John, the youngest of the four.
This, however, cannot be, as the northern face is clearly a woman's.
It is more probable that they represent four local saints: say,
Section of Round Tower.
46 Devenish : Its History,

SS. Molaise, Patrick, Columba, and Fancha of Rossory or Brigid.

Speaking of these heads, a writer in the Old Ulster Journal (Vol. IV.,
p. 272) says : —" They give historians an idea of the personal
appearance of the builders of our Round Towers, and realise the
descriptions given us by Livy, Plutarch, and Strabo of the gigantic
Celts, of whom Marcellus says ' in the cast of their features there
is something terrible.' " When Gerald Barry, in the twelfth
century, asserted that " in Ireland man appears in all his majesty,"
he might have copied the Devenish heads to illustrate the truth of
his assertion. The female face shows clearly that the sculptor's

The East Head on Moulding of Round Tower.

model was not taken from among the listless and enervated victims
of modern refinement, " who toil not, neither do they spin." It is
a face that helps one to realise how the Brigids and Fanchas and
Dymphnas of Ireland endured the almost incredible toils and hard
ships that fell to their lot.
With the exception of a few stones which may have been
inserted at a late date, the outside of the tower is built entirely of
calp sandstone, found in boulders around the lake shore. The
inside, which was not so much exposed to the chemical action of
the atmosphere, is lined with limestone. A similar arrangement
was adopted in building Clones Abbey, and a number of more

J
 Antiquities and Traditions. 47

modern structures around Lough Erne. The stones on both the

interior and exterior of the tower are dressed to the required curve,
a circumstance which justified Archdall in comparing it, on
account of its smoothness, to a gun-barrel. They are not, however,
laid in regular courses, " but in such a manner as best suited the
builder's convenience." Some of them, even towards the top, are
very large, measuring 4 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 6 in., so that two and
sometimes three courses of smaller ones were required to bring the
whole to a level, and very fre
quently " when a vacancy occurs
in a course the use of a small
stone is obviated by a block in the
next being so dressed as to key
into the space below."
Unlike most other towers,
Devenish was built with outside
scaffolding. The openings used
in constructing the scaffold can
still be discerned on the exterior
surface.
The stones which form the
cornice are side morticed to receive
the first course of the cone. The
stones which form the cone itself,
both outside and inside, are beauti
fully dressed, and fit together
with very fine joints. The per
pendicular height of the cone is 14
ft. 10 in. It is finished with a
bell-shaped block of stone, measur Cornicb of Round Tower.

ing 1 ft. 11 in. in height, 5 ft. 4! in. in circumference at the base,

and \\ in. in diameter at the top. Seven inches from the top a
plain raised band, 2 in. wide and £ in. deep, encircles it. In the
little plateau at the top there is a mortice 35 in. deep, 1 \ in. square
at the surface, and tapering to about half an inch at the bottom.
When the cone was being repaired in 1835 a piece of iron was found
in this hole. For what purpose it was intended we cannot under
take to say. It may have been used to fasten on another stone
which brought the cone to a sharp point.1 We have before us a
1 Like the Antrim Round Tower, U. J. A. (olrt) III. 15.
48 Devenish : Its History,

cut stone ball, suspiciously like the top of a gate pier, which a cer
tain family in the neighbourhood preserved with the greatest care for
a long time, believing it to have been the finial of the round tower.
We have satisfied ourselves, first, that it was carried away from
Devenish ; and, second, that it would in no way fit on to the top of
the tower.
When John Frith wrote about Devenish in 1808 an alder tree
had grown up in the lower part of the cone. This tree was removed
soon after by a boy named
O'Brien, whose father was, we
believe, headmaster of Portora
School. He did not, however,
remove the roots and it sprung
up again and grew into a large
tree. In 1834 this tree was
blown down and carried with
it about one-third of the cone.
An appeal was made for funds
to repair the tower, with the
result that, in the summer of
1835 it was thoroughly res
tored. The restoration was
carried out by Robert Rexter
of Enniskillen, at a cost of
£95. The builder erected his
scaffolding on two large beams
thrust through the four open
ings under the cone, having
Northern Head, Round Tower.
ascended by means of temporary
floors placed in the tower itself, On a large stone, under the
cornice, and facing southeast by south he cut the inscription,
" Repaired, 1835 : Robert Rexter, Architect."
Before going on to examine the other objects of interest on the
island, some of our readers who may not have the time or the incli
nation to investigate for themselves the origin and use of the Round
Towers, may expect us to say a few words about them.
We are not going to advance any new theories, or to discuss at
length the merits or demerits of the old ones. We simply propose
to give in as brief a form as possible a few of the leading solutions
that have been offered of this once vexed question.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 49

Authorities of the subject may be divided into three classes : —

i st. Those who maintain that their origin has been, is, and ever
shall be, an inexplicable mystery.
2nd. Those who contend that they are of Pagan origin.
3rd. Those who prove that they are the work of Christians.
Anterior to 1845 the advocates of the first theory gravely
assured the world that history is a perfect blank as regards the
origin of the Round Towers. In that
year Dr. George Petrie upset all
their calculations by proving con
clusively that existing documents do
actually deal with the erection of at
least a number of Round Towers.
The Chronicon Scotorum speaks of the
erection of a Round Tower at Tom-
graney in the year 965. O'Curry
mentions a MS. of the 8th century
which speaks of the erection of a Finial Stone of Round Tower.
Round Tower by Gobban Saer, who
flourished in the 7th century, and to whom tradition assigns the
erection of a large number of towers. This MS. is preserved in the
monastery of St. Paul in Carinthia. The reference is as follows: —
" It was Gobban that erected there
A bleak house of penance and a tower ;
It was through belief in the God of heaven
That the choicest towers were built. (O'C. II., 46.)
This great saint
and architect,
who is known in
the ancient his
torical tales and
legendary poems
of the Irish as
" Gobban the
Builder," is said
F^fodnnL, '^Fri(k AW to have owed his
Oct a* /toe: great skill to the
blessing of St.
Aidan, the bosom friend of Molaise. His native place lay on the
sea shore some place between the Boyne and the Liffey, where
D
50 Devenish : Its History,

his family continued to rule as chieftains until supplanted by the

Danes in the gth century.
The theory of the Pagan origin of the round towers is sup
ported by great names ; but opposed to it are arguments well calcu
lated to bring conviction to any thinking mind. As we have just
shown, some existing MSS. speak of the erection of round towers in
Christian times. The annals of Ireland under the year 1238 record
the erection of a round tower at Annadown ; and Petrie speaks of an
Antiphonary which asks for a prayer for Donnchadh O'Carrol,
Prince of Oriel, " in whose time many round towers were built."
A recent writer1 on this subject very truly remarks that our
pagan ancestors, in giving a name to a place, always commemorated
any building of note in that place ; hence, the frequent occurrence
of Rath and Dun, Lis and Cashel in the composition of Irish place
names. Yet in no Irish place names do we find any of the Irish
names of the round tower incorporated. The obvious inference is
that when names were being given to those places where towers are
now found, no such towers existed.
Another telling argument against the pre-Christian theory is
the use of mortar in the construction of the round towers, while in
no other existing pre-Christian buildings in Ireland can any trace of
mortar be found.
These towers were then built in Christian times. By whom ?
and for what purpose? To the first question we unhesitatingly
answer, by Irishmen. It were worse than useless to review the
wayward speculations of a host of 17th and 18th century anti
quarians who attributed them to the Danes. The merest tyro in
Irish history and archaeology knows that the Danes came to
plunder and destroy, not to stud the country with beautiful and
symmetrical works of art, bearing not the slightest resemblance to
anything either in their own country or in any country in which
they had sojourned.
The second question, viz., "for what purpose they were
built ?" is not so easily answered. General Vallancey was followed
by Dr. Lanigan and Thomas Moore in assigning them to the
mysteries of Druidism and fireworship. Other authorities at
different times have held that they were erected for watchtowers,
astronomical observatories, or beacon towers. We see no difficulty in

1 " The Round Towers of Ireland," by S. J. Belfast, 1886.

 Antiquities and Traditions. 51

admitting that they may have been used as such, but they could
never have been originally intended for watchtowers or obser
vatories, since neither their structure nor their situation, at least in
the generality of cases, suit them for such purposes.
Richardson originated a theory of his own to explain their use.
He says they were built for the accomodation of anchorites of the
pillar-saint class. A very slight acquaintance with the life and
ways of St. Simon Stylites and his followers will convince the reader
that Richardson's theory is untenable.
The late Canon Smiddy held the towers to be baptistries, but
he adduces no historical, and very little circumstantial, evidence in
proof of his contention.
The conclusion we are bound to come to is, that the Round
Towers are of Ecclesiastical origin, and were intended for Ecclesi
astical purposes.
They are of Ecclesiastical origin, for they are almost without
exception built in close proximity to ancient churches. In many
instances, and none more remarkable than that of Devenish, their
style of architecture and ornamentation corresponds with that of
the neighbouring ecclesiastical ruins. Giraldus Cambrensis, who
wrote his " Topographia Hiberniae " in the twelfth century, speaks
of them as tunes ecclesiastics —scclesiastical towers, " built after the
manner of the country."
Dr. Petrie has proved from many sources that the Round
Towers were intended to be used primarily as belfries, and
secondarily as storehouses in which the Church plate and other
valuables were deposited in times of danger.
" Here was placed the holy chalice that held the sacred wine,
And the gold cross from the altar, and the relic from the shrine,
And the mitre shining brighter, with its diamonds from the East,
And thecrozier of the pontiff, and the vestment of the priest."
Down till a very recent period parish churches in Ireland were
used in times of war and invasion as depositories for valuables. An
instance of this usage is recorded in the annals under the year
1507, a. d., where we are told that the Church of Achaidh-Beithe
(Aghavea-Brookborough) was burned, and the greater part of the
valuable property of the surrounding country was consumed in it.
The Four Masters, a.d. 948, record the burning of the Tower
of Slane " with its full of relics and good people, with Cacinechair,
the reader, and a bell—the best of bells."
Dr. Petrie quotes a poem of the 9th century to prove that the
52 Devenish : Its History,

Round Towers were regarded as sanctuaries. " He that commits

a theft it will be grievous to thee if he obtain his protection in the
house of a king or of a bell." It may be interesting to know that
even within the present century a debtor flying from bailiffs sought
and obtained the right of sanctuary within the precincts of Maguire's
Castle (the present Castle Barracks) Enniskillen.1

Maguire's Castle, Enniseillen.

A. R. Hogg, Photo.

We have already referred incidently to the custom sanctioned

by the Brehon Law, which entitled a monastery to a portion of the
property of all strangers dying within sound of its bells, and, if situated
on or near the shore of a lake or of the sea, to all flotsam and jetsam.
It was only the original bell, blessed by the founder, that could be
used in measuring the rights and jurisdiction of a Church, and hence
no doubt one of the chief reasons for building bell-towers so high
was based on their belief that the higher the bell was hung the
further its sound could be heard.
The following passage, from the Life of St. Senan, is suggestive
of another reason for building the Round Towers :—" Senan, too,
built a clogas (belfry) in 7W«s-Cathaigh, which was n5 feet in height,

1 The Brehon Law defines exactly the extent of the Maighin Digona, or sanctuary surrounding
a residence. It was measured by a number of javelin throws, proportioned to the rank of the
chieftain. The sanctuary afforded a fugitive protection from the violent hands of his pursuers.
If they violated the protection they became liable to the owner of the Maighin Digona. (Glnnel.
Brehon Laws, pp. 208, 209.)
 Antiquities and Traditions. 53

so that when a bell was placed in it, near to the top, the sound of
the bell used to be heard all over Corcabhaisgin, so that sacrifice
used to be made in every church in Corcabhaisgin at the same time
as Senan and his followers were engaged in offering it in Innis
Cathaigh."—Vita. S. Senani, cap. vi.
Those amongst our readers who feel satisfied that they already
know enough about the Round Towers have skipped the foregoing
digression, and gone on to the next chapter. They have forgotten
that the interesting part of a communication is often kept for the
postcript. We have to settle the age of our tower.
In the absence of any ancient MS. reference to the building of
Devenish Tower, it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to
determine with any degree of accuracy even the century within
which it was built. It must be set down as among the most
scientifically designed and elaborately constructed, and, probably,
therefore, most recent structure of its kind in Ireland. The
characteristic features which it has in common with Molaise's
house would lead one to believe that they are the work of the
self-same masons. The material is the same in both—calp sand
stone, from the boulders found around the shore. The plinth of
the tower is exactly similar to the plinth of the house. The flat
projecting band round the door of the tower bears a striking
resemblance to the architrave of the house door. The bed cut in
the cornice stones of the tower to receive the first course of cone-
stones is exactly like the bed prepared in the string stones of the
house for the first course of roof-stones. The pitch of the roof is
pretty much the same in both. But there is one remarkable point
of difference between them, hitherto unnoticed, and one which we
believe claims for the House a more hoary antiquity than can be
claimed for the tower. The house stands almost due east and
west, being slightly over one degree south of east. Its builders
seem to have followed the system of orientation laid down by St.
Isodore, and strictly adhered to by Durandus. They took their east
at the Equinox. The orientation of the tower is not so accurate.
Its uppermost windows are about 150 south of east and north of
west, from which we conclude that its builders took their bearings,
not at the Equinox, but in accordance with the Irish custom, on
the Feast Day of their Patron Saint— i.e., on 12th September; and
that, therefore, the tower was built after the death of Molaise, and
when his Feast Day was already observed.
54 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

MEASUREMENTS OF TOWER.
ft. In. ft. in
Plinth ... .. 0 9
Body from plinth to cornice ... -- 65 2
Cornice...
Cone -- «4
0 n
10
81 aY
4.
Circumference at base -- 49 9
,, midway up -- 45 4
under cornice ... .. 42 7
Thickness of wall at door sill ... ... - 3 6*
,, ,, at cornice -- 3 5
,, ,, at sill of topmost window - 3 3
,, at sill of small ope under south window -- 3 1
Diameter internal at base ... 8 8
,, at sill of door ... 8 5
Diameter external ,, 8 ft. 5in. + 3 ft. 6J + 3ft. 6J ... 15 f)
at sill of upper windows ... 13 7
Height of door sill from plinth ... 8 6J
„ floor ... 5 8
Height of door ... 5 3
Width of door at sill ... 2 oj
„ spring of arch ... 2 0
Windows upper storey—Distance from cone—north ... ... 2 1
,, south ... ... 2 1
,, east ... ... 1 11
,, west . . . ... 2 2
north— height ... ... 3 10
,, width ... ... : 6
south—height ... .... 3 10
width ... ... 1 4
east— height ... ... 3 7
,, width ... 1 4
west— height ... ... 3 8
width ... ... 1 5
Ope under south window—height ... 1 10
„ width at base.. ... 0 10
„ at top .. ... 0 10
Projection of cornice ... 0 3
Diameter at top of cone ... 0 4l
Topmost stone of cone, bell-shaped—height ... X II
,, circumference at base ... 5 4i
„ at 9| in. from top... ... 2 9
Ornamental band, 7J in. from top—width 0 *J
„ projection ... 0 °i
1st floor—height of offset from level of plinth ... 8 0
2nd floor ,; ... 21 2J
3rd floor ... 36 10J
4th floor ... 47 6J
5th floor ... 58 9
 THE OLD ABBEY.

UCCEEDING in chronological order, the next

building that claims our attention is the " Great
y; Church," a few yards east from Molaise's
House, and forming the southern wing of an
ancient abbey. The accompanying plan gives
accurate measurements, and the remains furnish
us with very little definite information beside
this. The church measures 80 ft. 7 in. by
17 ft. 6 in., proportions altogether out of keep
ing with the 12th century character of its masonry.
It is quite evident, however, that about twelve
feet of its western extremity is a more recent
addition. The masonry is more recent, and the
position of the holy water stoup, 1 6 ft. 6 in. from
the western door, seems- to corroborate the testi
mony of the masonry. It is a solid, substantial
building, composed of ordinary- sized hammered
stones, and exhibits none of the dovetailing so
remarkable in the Round Tower. Like the other
monastic buildings around Lough Erne, the ravages
of time dealt lightly with it ; but the sacrilegious hand of the despoiler
has annulled the good-natured forbearance of decay's effacing finger.
No sufficiently distinctive features have been spared to assist
hypothesis in determining the date of its erection. It may date
back to the restoration of the abbey after the great fire of 1157A.D.,
or it may be as recent as 1360, when another fire necessitated the
rebuilding of portion of the abbey.
This church—the Teampul Mor of Devenish— was originally a
plain, oblong building. What is usually spoken of as its southern
transept is the mausoleum of the Maguires of Tempo—a family
which, in the days of its prosperity, patronised the monks of
Devenish with princely munificence. It is much more recent than
the rest of the church, built of chiselled stone, and was, we are
inclined to believe, roofed with an arch of the same material. The
walls are 2 ft. 8 in. thick. The internal measurements are
56 Devenish : Its History,

The Church. Maouire Mausoleuu.

TE AMPUL MOR.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 57

19 ft. 64 in. x 15 ft. 11 in. The only entrance to it is by a narrow

doorway from the church. The erroneous descriptions of this
building which are frequently published convince one of the
necessity of exercising matured thought and careful comparison on
the spot, before the purpose for which each part of a building had
been designed, or the apparent age of its erection can be conjectured
with any degree of accuracy.
A very remarkable feature of this church is the stunted tower at
the south-east corner, shown
in the plan. It measures at
the base 6 ft. 10J by 6 ft. 5 in.
It is quite solid, of the same
material and workmanship
as the rest of the church,
and tapers, buttresslike, to
a height of 4 ft. 6 in. It is
quite possible that this struc
ture, while serving as a
buttress, was also used to
support a small bell ; for in
olden times it was usual to
place a small belfry on the
eastern gable of parish
churches, from which the
saiictus bell was rung to warn
the faithful who might be in
the vicinity of the church
that the holy mysteries were
heing celebrated. The only
traces of cTiiselled stone re
maining in the church are
the semi-cylindrical quoins
of the western gable—a rude
Window in Southern Wall, Teampul Mor.
imitation of the quoins in R. Wllch, Photo.
Molaise's House, and a window in the southern wall. This window,
which is round-headed, is surrounded both on the interior and
exterior with a series of deep and well-cut bead mouldings. Its
external measurement is 5 ft. i\ in. by 6 ft; its internal dimensions
6ft. 3 in. x 3 ft. 1 in. A beautiful hood moulding, with horizontal
terminals, surrounds the arch on the exterior. Wright, in his
58 Devenish : Its History,

" Scenes in Ireland," p. 200, reproduces an old drawing of

Devenish, which shows this church in a very fair state of
preservation, with both the gables standing. The eastern one
contains a triple window moulded like the one we have just
described. Another old drawing before us shows a fine triple
eastern window ; and yet another represents these three lights as
separated by massive piers of stone. A writer in the Belfast
Magazine (1825) says—"A part of the east window of this church
remains, but in a very dilapidated condition." This statement
induced us to make inquiries from an old man who remembers the
island for more than 70 years. He says the three lights were
separated by two pillars of stone, each about one foot wide on the
outside. In the wall between the mausoleum and the south-east
turret are the sill and part of the jambs of another moulded window.
They are fixed together with a mortar as hard as adamant.1
Scattered around in the graveyard are several stones that
belonged to this or similar windows.
A violent storm in 1780 did serious injury to this church.
Another storm on 20th January, 1803, blew down the upper portion
of the western gable and the greater part of the domestic buildings
which adjoin it to the north.
Without very extensive excavation it would be impossible at
present to trace even the foundations of the domestic buildings.
That they were extensive is quite evident. All that now
remains of them is a little pointed doorway leading into a hall 7 ft.
by 2 ft. Over this hall is a narrow flagged cell in which a man could
not stand upright. The hall communicates with the church by means
of a squint, and terminates on the eastern side in a flight of stone
steps, which evidently led to a corridor fronting a number of cells
similar to the one that remains. '
The ruins of a ruin which mark the site of this once magnificent
building bring us back to the period embracing the later half of the
nth and the earlier half of the 12th century, when most of the
larger monasteries of Ireland were built—many of them, like Deven
ish, in places that had long been occupied by smaller and plainer
ecclesiastical buildings. The renaissance of ecclesiastical architec
ture at that period is probably due to the overthrow of the Danish
power at Clontarf, and the incoming of the Norman barons
1 The oldest photograph of this church which has com.: under our observation shows a con
siderable portion of this window.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 59

and clergy. After 1014 there were few monasteries destroyed by

the Danes. The comparative security of the monks led to the erection
of costly and magnificent buildings in place of the small, plain
churches of an earlier period. Their own residences were built in
harmony of design with the sacred structures to which they formed
necessary appendages—they exhibited a solid, solemn and scholastic
character that bespoke them at once as the habitations of men who
were removed from the ordinary pursuits of life—who did not
perform a part for a brief hour in the church and then put off the
cleric with the surplice. The solemn dignity of their surroundings
tended to cherish and preserve within their breasts that gravity and
religious composure so essential to the state to which they
belonged. There was severity and simplicity in the old monasteries-
without any artificial resources, without any attempt at concealment
—no false show, no nick-nacks, no mock material, but everything
as true and solid as faith itself. Nor were they as cheerless and
comfortless as is generally supposed by those who derive all their
ideas in these matters from roofless ruins, unfurnished and untenanted
for centuries. Standing among those desolate ruins the mind
goes back instinctively to the past, and dwells with delight
on the memories of the men who once made those buildings
resound with the chant of Divine praise. Silence reigns around,
yet those crumbling ruins whisper a story that goes to the heart.
It is a story of exalted life, of noble heroic deeds. In this very spot
stood the altar, at which generations of unselfish men made their
vows to God and offered Him the undivided sacrifice of their lives.
There are the lonely cells, in which they kept their vigils and their
fasts ; where grace struggled day after day with self-love ; and
grace was ever victorious. There, too, are the graves where the
bones of those who laboured and prayed in those ruined cells lie in
peaceful repose awaiting the voice of the Archangel to break the
long spell and summon them to glory. This may not be a suitable
occasion for a lay sermon, but it is certainly a subject for serious
meditation.
 ST. MARY'S ABBEY.

The sacred tapers' lights are gone,

Gray moss has clad the altar-stone,
The holy image is overthrown,
The bell has ceased to toll.
The long ribb'd aisles are bent and shrunk,
The holy shrines to ruin sunk,
imparted is the pious monk—
God's blessing on his soul."

ERUSING the Devenish history of ecclesi

astical architecture we read its last chapter
in the stately ruin known as the Upper Church,
covering a period of about 400 years. This
church forms the southern boundary of a hollow
square of domestic buildings, the interior of
the square having been surrounded by a cloister,
as shown in the accompanying plan. Except the
square tower and a portion of the northern side wall
containing the sacristy door, little more than the
foundations of the Church remain. If we are
permitted to judge of the whole structure from the
remains, we may fairly conclude that St. Mary's Abbey must
have been a most substantial and beautiful monastery.
Standing among its ruins to-day we cannot help sharing the
sentiments that inspired the late Dr. Murray's poem on Cashel:—
" Oh I for an hour a thousand years ago,
Within thy precincts dim,
To hear the chant, in deep and measured flow,
Of psalmody and hymn I

To see of priests, the long and white array,

Around the silver shrines—
The people kneeling prostrate far away
In thick and chequered lines."

When complete the church was the result of a number of

additions to, and improvements on, a very plain, low structure, the
 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions. 61

gutter stones of which formed the flashing of the penthouse roof of

the southern portion of the cloister. Later on the side walls were
raised about two feet and finished with an narrow parapet, of which
some traces may still be seen in the northern side wall. There are

The Cloisters.

Jf

The Nave. The Choir.

GROUND PLAN-ST. MARY'S ABBEY.

many details to show that it was on the occasion of this extension

(a.d., 1449) that the door leading from the sacristy to the
choir was inserted. The beautifully- finished tudor leaf and
ogee arch in the ornamentation of this door belong to the late
decorated or early perpendicular period of architecture, and lead us
to the conclusion that the inscribed stone, bearing date 1449, which
we shall describe presently, refers neither to the original building of
02 Devcnish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

the church nor to its final completion, when the square tower was
added, but to an intermediate extension and improvement when the
windows of " incomparable beauty" at present preserved in Monea
Church was erected.
The latest repairs and
improvements to this church
were carried out on a scale
seldom surpassed in our Irish
monasteries. On that occa
sion (the date of which we
cannot fix) the parapet was
filled in, and the side walls
finished with a string course
of Carrickrea marble, the
central quadrangular tower
was built, and a western
doorway inserted.
Sir R. C. Hore speaks
of this church as " large
and beautiful, with a noble
carved window over the high
altar;" and Philomath Frith
tells us the fate of that
eastern " window of incom
parable beauty." He says
" it was perfect until the
Church of Monea was built,
at which time they took part
£aST Window now in Monica Ciiuech.
of the window and placed it
H. Welch, Photo. in the east end of that church,
the remaining part, being wrecked by taking part away, has since
fallen, which is very much regretted by every lover of antiquity.1

1 Monea Church was built about 1660. It would appear from Frilh's statement that the
window was brought from Devenish at that lime. This cannot be, for an old print before us—
which is certainly very little over a century old—shows the window in its place in the Abbey. It
must have been on the occasion of some subsequent repairs to or rebuilding of the church that
the window was inserted. There are two entries in the Vestry Hook, under the years 1752 and
1804 in which mention is made of a change in the windows:--
" March 13th, 1753, £50 were levied off the parish for making a new chancel and windows."
April 6th, 1804, the Churchwardens were empowered " to enlarge and glaze certain windows
in the church, and to repair the chancel in a becoming manner."
It must have been on one or other of these occasions that the Churchwardens committed
ihe fclix culpa by which this beautiful window has been preserved.
Priest's Door— Saint Mary s Abbey

/
64 Devenisk : Its History,

When the new church at Monea was being built some years ago,
the Devenish window was re-inserted. Passing the church on the
road from Enniskillen to Derrygonnelly this window attracts
your attention in pleasing contrast with a number of more
modern ones by which it is surrounded. From the accompanying
illustration it will be seen that it is incomplete—the termination of
the drip-moulding is wanting. The finely-cut Tudor leaves on its
mullion assign it to the same period as the priest's door—i.e., 1449.
In the northern side wall, and 13 ft. 6 in. from the eastern
extremity of the church
there is a pointed doorway
(see illustration page 63)
of exquisite design and
workmanship, measuring
in height 5 ft. 3 in., in
breadth, 2 ft. 2 in. at the
sill, and 2 ft. 1 in. at the
spring of the arch. It is
surmounted by an ogee
canopy, terminating in a
Tudor-leaf final, and sur
rounded by an interlaced
band, with vine leaves
elaborately sculptured, in
a style approaching the
perpendicular period more
nearly than those on the
standing cross. On the
eastern side of the canopy
is a bird picking the leaves;
the corresponding one on
Westeen Door— St. Marv's Aiiuev. the western side has been
brokenaway. Inaperpen-
dicular line with the architraves are buttresses terminating in broad pin-
acles with crockets. The accompanying illustration gives a better
idea of. the artistic peculiarities of this interesting doorway than
any description could convey. The stone in this door is millstone
grit, exactly like the standing cross. Kesh is the only place in the
locality whence it could have been procured.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 65

Only about two feet high of the western door jambs remain in
situ, but the beautiful mouldings that surrounded it are scattered
about among the ruins. We collected these fragments and the
accompanying drawing was made from them. This doorway
was one of the latest additions to the church. It is of Carrick-
rea marble, 3 ft. 8 in. wide at the base, and was inserted at the
time the quadrangular tower was built.

Groining on Tower— Saint Mary's Abbev.

Drawn by If. J. Fcmull, from a Photo by F. C. Bigger.

We must rely upon the camera more than on the pen to give
our readers any adequate idea of the exquisite design and execution
of the quadrilateral tower, which is really the remarkable feature of
the church. It is supported on Gothic arches which spring from
66 Devenish : Its History,

peculiarly Irish, tongue-shaped corbels. The groined ribs, which

terminate in a plain boss, are morticed on the upper side to receive
a sheeting of wood on which the arch was built. A few fragments of
this sheeting still remain in situ. It seems to have been thinly
coated with a gluey substance that has
grown gray with age. A spiral staircase
of 32 steps, entered by a small door
4 ft. 8 in. by 2 ft. 1 in., exactly similar
to the western door, leads to the first
floor of the tower, which was formerly
flagged, and had two apertures for bell
ropes. The flags having been removed
Terminal ur Urir Moulding. and the floor torn up, r their place has
west Dooe. been recently supplied by a cement floor.
A small pointed door leads from the stairs to this floor. It measures
interiorly 4 ft. 6 in. by 2 ft. 11 in., and exteriorly 3 ft. 8 in. by 1 ft. n
in. Like all the other doors of this church it has neatly-cut open
ings at the sill and the spring of the arch for the reception of the
heel and top of the door, while on the opposite side, 1 ft. 7$ in. over
the sill, it has a projecting catch for the door bolt.
Six feet nine inches above the level of the floor are corbels on
which the second floor rested, and 8 ft. 8 in. higher are another set
of corbels that supported the roof.
Directly over the apex of the arch, and 3 ft. 5 in. from it, there
is a pointed door looking towards the western door. It measures on
the outside 5 ft. 8 in. by 3 ft. 74 in. On the inside it has a hori
zontal lintel, and measures 5 ft. n| in. by 2 ft. ui in. There are
three windows in this compartment. The northern one measures
1 ft. 8 in. by 6 in. on the exterior, and 3 ft. by 2 ft. 5 in. on the inte
rior. The eastern opening, looking toward the choir, is Gothic,
the top being cut out of one stone. It measures 4 ft. 6 in. by 6 in.
Interiorly it is square-headed, and measures 5 ft. 4 in. by 3 ft. The
southern window is Gothic topped, and measures externally 1 ft.
1 in. by 6 in. On the interior it is square-headed, and measures 2 ft.
5 in. by 2 ft. 9 in.
The opes in the northern and southern walls of the second floor
are not directly over the corresponding ones in the first floor. The
northern ope is square-headed, and measures externally 2 ft. 5 in. by
6 in. On the inside it is 3 ft. 6 in. high and 3 ft. 4 in. in width.
The southern window is Gothic headed, the arch being cut out of
 Antiquities and Traditions. 67

a single stone. It is 3 ft 8 in. by 6 in. on the outside, and 4 ft. 9 in.

by 2 ft. 8 in. on the inside.
In the southern wall of the tower, and immediately over the door
leading to the winding stairs, is a window which has been broken
away on the outside, but it is perfect on the interior, where it is
round-headed, and measures 7 ft. 5 in. by 2 ft. 10 in. The interior
arch is formed of four well-cut closely-fitting stones. Its width on
the exterior is 6J in. In this window is embedded, for preservation,
the famous inscribed stone to which we have already referred, and
to which we shall return presently. l
The lower part of the staircase is lighted by two openings : one
directly over the door and 8 ft. 4 in. from the level of the floor, is
cross-shaped, each of the arms being 7 in. by 2 in. The other,
which is Gothic headed, measuring 2 ft. 5 in. by 2f in., opens into
the church on the western side, and at a height of 5 ft. 6 in. from
the floor.
A small Gothic doorway 4 ft. 4 m. by 1 ft. 10 in. opens from the
stairs on a sort of balcony which apparently ran round the western
portion of the church. The extremities of this balcony were
supported on four corbels which project from the tower (two on
each side of the arch) at a height of 10 ft. 1 1 in. from the plinth.
On the northern side this balcony communicated by means of a door,
exactly like the one opening on it from the staircase, with a small
cage-like cell in the northern part ofthe tower. A small quatrefoil squint
looks from this cell towards the altar. What purpose this cell
served we cannot say. It maybe the representative of the " Lantern"
usually found in the tower over the crossing of the church in
Cistercian monasteries, or it may have been the " Armarium
Commune" which contained the books used by the monks in choir.
Three feet nine and one-half inches east of the Sacristy door,
and 2 ft. g in. from the floor, is an opening in the wall 1 ft. if in.
by 1 ft. of in. and 1 ft. 4 in. deep. We cannot conjecture for what
purpose it was intended.
The chief entrance from the monastery to the church still
remains under the tower. It is a deeply-recessed, square-headed
doorway which seems to have been remodelled at the time the tower
was built. On the right-hand side passing out of the church are
remains of a very fine holy water stoup. Between the tower and
the western gable, in the same wall, are traces of two other doors
that seem to have been built up at an early date.
68 Devenish: Its History,

The inscribed stone built into the window at the entrance to

the spiral stairs bears the following Latin inscription in raised
Lombardic capitals "Matheus : O'Dubigan : hoc : opus : fecit :
Bartholomeo : O'Flannagan : Priori : de Damynis A:D: 1449 : "
(Matthew O'Doogan did this work when Bartholomew O'Flanagan
was Prior of Devenish, A.D. 1449.) According to Frith's letters
this stone originally stood to the right of the east window and 8 feet
from the floor. It seems to have had its share, and more than its
share, in the vicissitudes of the place. Early in the year 1808,
Captain Fitzmaurice, of the Royal Artillery, Enniskillen,
carried away this stone and built it into a closet in his
own garden. Through the interference of Bishop Porter he
was compelled to replace it. On March 21st of that year the
Rev. Wm. Faussett,1 in a letter to Dr. Porter, says the stone

©TOOT.
DSOCflPQS
@JO:OFLRlfi>M
IBraili BBSEMb
Inscribed Stone, St. Mary's Abbev.

had been replaced in its former position. How long it remained

there we do not know. Probably the wall in which it was set,
having been weakened by the removal of the window, soon gave
way before one of the many hurricanes that sweep over the island,
and this venerable record remained buried under the debris until
some lover of " Ireland's ancient glory" picked it out and had it
placed in its present position of security. The Prior, Bartholomew
O'Flanagan, to whom it refers, died in the monastery of Lough
Derg (County Donegal) in the year 1462.
This stone measures 2 ft. 6 in. by 1 ft. 2 in. In its present
position it would be very difficult to photograph it, but the accom

1 The Rev. W. Faussett was Curate with Archdeacon Caulfield, Rector of Devenish. His
letter is written from Tullycreevy. He says' Captain Fitzmaurice excused his action by saying
that he had the stone removed in order to copy the inscription and have it translated.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 69

panying illustration has been drawn from a careful rubbing, and

represents it most accurately. A glance at it is sufficient to show
that it has no connection with what we may call the Marble period
of Devenish architecture. It is a record of a period of which barely
enough remains to excite our regret that so much has perished.
Among the remains coeval with the quadrilateral tower are
fragments of an enormous pointed arch, with deep architrave and
rope moulding, that must have spanned the entrance to a transept
or side chapel. In the Abbey Church, as it stands at present,
there is nothing to show that it was ever furnished with either
transept or side chapel. It was not till after 1630 that the
parish church was transferred from Devenish to Monea.
(Inquisition, Sept. 24th, 1630). Malcolm Hamilton, the first
reformed rector, was appointed in 1622, and was often resident
in Monea Castle during his incumbency. His successor,
Archibald Erskine, was inducted February 10th, 1630. They
must have had a church in which they held their service before
the erection of Monea Church (on the site of an old Chapel-of-Ease),
and as existing records speak of the transfer of the parish church
from Devenish to Monea (in 1630), it is probable that up to that year
the old Abbey Church was used for Divine Service.
The Abbey. -The abbey build
ings covered a space of 90 by 51
feet, and made, with the church,
almost a perfect square. It would
be impossible at the present time to
locate the different compartments
which we know it once contained.
The foundation of the eastern
wall of what was likely the chapter
house and sacristy, is barely
traceable. It was 51 ft. by 17
ft. 6 in. The refectory, measur
ing 48 ft. 6 in. by 13 ft. 3 in., Devenish Font now In Monea Church.
is the northern boundary of the
quadrangle. About eight feet high of its walls remain. They
have openings for joists which supported a second storey—probably
the dormitory. The refectory was lighted by two small windows
opening on the cloister. The building which finished the quad
rangle on the western side has totally disappeared. Speculation
70 Devenish : Its History,

about its use is vain and unprofitable. It may have contained the
guest-house— for the monastery was surely provided with one.
St. Cumin of Connor says Devenish, in Molaise's time, was a
" Stranger's home for the men of Erin,
Without refusal, without a sign of inhospitality,"
The genial hospitality which distinguished their founder ever re
mained a distinctive characteristic of the monks of Devenish. Read
ing the records of our early monasteries we sometimes wonder how
they were able to meet the many demands that were made on their
hospitality. Alfred of Northumbria, who spent some time among
the monasteries of Lough Erne, gives us some clue to the explana
tion. He says :—
" I found the good lay monks and brothers
Ever beseeching help for others.
And in their keeping the Holy Word
Pure as it came from Christ the Lord."
In his time, and down till the suppression of the monastery,
" Whoever passed, be he baron or squire,
Was free to call at the Abbey and stay ;
Nor guerdon or hire for his lodgings pay,
Tho' he tarried a week with the holy choir."
What a different reception the wayfarer meets on the island
now ! Only bare and inhospitable ruins meet his eye. He hears
no friendly welcome, but in its stead the wind moaning drearily
through the crumbling ruins, as if chanting a dirge for the past,
and lamenting the happy times that shall return no more. Life
and thought have left the island ; they have given place to ruin and
death, and it is to be feared that these grim tenants have leased the
place for ever.
" No more shall charity, with sparkling eyes
And smiles of welcome, wide unfold the door.
Where pity, listening still to nature's cries,
Befriends the wretched and relieves the poor."
—Keats.
The records which these buildings reveal are, like themselves,
very fragmentary. Scarcely a trace of the cloister remains. The
groove where its roof fitted into the refectory wall at the north
east corner of the quadrangle shows us that it was 6 ft. 10 in. wide.
We have only the weather moulding projecting from the side wall
of the church to show us that it was continued round the southern
side. We have no means of determining whether or not it ran
 Antiquities and Traditions. 7i

along the north or west side of the square. We are inclined to

believe it did. A plain low Romanesque doorway led from the
cloister to the refectory.
From Sir John Davies' letters to the Earl of Salisbury we learn
that the abbey was in ruins so early as 1607. After giving a
detailed account of their tour of inspection through Monaghan, he
says : —" From Monaghan we went the first night to the ruins of the
Abbey of Clonays, where we encamped ; passing from thence through

St. Marv's Abbey. K. Welch, Photo.

ways almost impassable for our carriages by reason of woods and bogs,
we came the second night after to the south of Lough Erne, and
pitched our tent over against the island of Devenish, a place being
prepared for the holding of our sessions in the ruins of an abbey there."
It was during this inquisition that the venerable chronicler,
O'Bristan, chief Brehon of Fermanagh, refused to give up the
parchment document containing an account of Maguire's revenues
out of his mensal lands, until the Lord Deputy bound himself by a
solemn oath to return it when it had been copied.
72 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

In the early years of the present century, a considerable portion

of the buildings was pulled down by John Rankin of Tully, who
converted the monastery into a sort of farmyard, and who built a
mill and other houses at Tully with stone cotted from the ruins on
Devenish. He wrote to his landlord, Dr. Porter, on February 12th,
1808, denying that he had broken down any part of the buildings
and carried away the stones. In his letter he complained to the
Bishop of Captain Fitzmaurice having carried away the date-stone.
The ruined mill at Tully is for the most part built of Devenish
stones. Many other houses around the neighbourhood are from the
same quarry. Old inhabitants of Enniskillen and the neighbour
hood have assured us they have frequently seen men employed for
months at a time " cotting " stones from Devenish to fill in arms of
the lake and make building ground about the town, and to build on
the ground they had made. Unfortunately this practice was too
common in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the wonder is, not that
there are so few examples remaining of monastic masonry, but that
there are so many.
 THE HIGH CROSS.

B»'»eoeeB*i

O the south of the church in the upper cemetery

is an ancient Cross that is unique among monu
ments of its kind in Ireland. The material is
millstone grit, which was evidently brought from
Kesh. Its shaft measures 7 ft. 1 in. by 1 ft. 0$
in. by 9 in. A torus or bead moulding on each of the edges bifurcates
at a height of 3 ft. 10 in., forming an ogee arch on each of the four
faces. On the western side the mouldings continue, from the apex of
the arch, in a plaited pattern for 1 ft. 5 in. up the shaft, and terminate
in Tudor leaves of a very early style. On either side of this central
ornamentation of the upper part of the shaft is a smaller plaited
band, terminating in Tudor leaves and bunches of grapes. Over
the central band two Siamese twin-shaped birds are looking at the
grapes on either side. Immediately under the arch on this face
there is a small pointed niche, 7^ in. by 3 in. and 2 in. deep. It is
impossible to determine, with any degree of certainty, for what
purpose it was intended. It could not have been a holy water font.
It is too small to hold a 14th century statue, and it is usually said
that the founders of churches and cemeteries in Ireland had too
much respect for relics to place them in such exposed places.
Notwithstanding this commonly-received opinion we are inclined to
believe that this niche was intended for relics. In the " Life of
Molaise," from which we have quoted so often, we are told that he
placed relics in his cemetery. In the " Life of St. Maidoc" (April
11) we are told that the most precious relics of the saints of Ireland
were placed in a shrine and deposited in the cemetery of Clonmore,
which thence was called the " Angelic Cemetery." In the
" Invocation of Saints," in the " Book of Clonenagh," we read,
" Invoke to my aid the 1,129 priests who rest at Clonmore with St. ,
Maedhog and the Son of the Poet "—evidently referring to these
relics. We have no doubt that the peculiar shrine-shaped stone in
the Old Cemetery, Clones, known as the " Priests' Tomb," was
originally intended as a depository for relics.
The ornamentation of the northern face of the shaft is very
much broken away ; but from what remains of it we can see that it
74 Devenish : Its History,

was a plaited continuation of the torus mouldings, terminating in an

early Tudor leaf with bunches of grapes.
The plaited ornamentation in which the mouldings continue up
the southern side is more elaborate than that of the northern or
western faces, and it, too, terminates in a Tudor leaf with two
bunches of grapes. Underneath the arch in which the torus
mouldings join is a shaven face, reposing in the calm placidity of
death. It is surrounded with a plaited band, like the border of a
hood, the inner garment being fastened at the breast with a brooch.
On the western face of the south-east Cross, Monasterboice, there
is a female figure whose mantle is fastened at the breast with a
brooch.
The north-western and south-western edges of the upper
portion of the shaft are cut into pairs of crockets.
Above the arch on the eastern face is a crucifixion in relief.
The figure of Christ measures i6in. by 12 in. The stem or tree of
the cross, which disappears under the ornamentation surrounding
the arch, appears again on the lower portion of the shaft for a
distance of 17 inches, making its total height 3 ft. 9 in. fOver
the arms of this crucifix are two rose-shaped bosses of great beauty.
The edges of the shaft are broken away on either side. They seem
to have been occupied by two figures—probably the Virgin and St.
John—standing about 7 in. high, and supported on crockets, of
which some portions remain.
The original height of the cross and the slenderness of its shaft
rendered some additional support necessary for its safety, and this
was provided in a manner peculiar to itself, and one other Irish
Cross—that of Tuam. On each face of the stem and on the
corresponding surfaces of the base are mortices to receive four stays
1 ft. 6 in. in length. These mortices, which are sunk one inch, are
evidently of much later date than the other work on the Cross.
They contain portions of a very hard mortar with which the
supports were held in their place.
For reasons best known to himself, an antiquary of some note
asserted some years ago that the head of this cross was in reality
part of a tracery window. It is hard to treat such assertions
seriously.
The prevailing feature of the ornamentation of the head is the
plaited pattern within a rope moulding, which is carried over the
shoulders in a manner that disposes of the tracery-window theory.
Antiquities and Traditions. 75

Df.venish Hioh Cross—West Side.

j6 Devenish : Its History, A ntiquities and Traditions.

On the lowermost face of the northern arm there is a well-cut bird,

apparently on wing. The corresponding portion of the southern
arm is broken away. The three quadrilateral spaces between the
rope mouldings at the extremity of the top and arms, on the
western side, are filled with vine leaves executed in a style that
points to the late curvilineal, or early rectilineal period of architecture.
Similar leaves occupy corresponding spaces at the extremity of the
arms on the eastern face, while its uppermost extremity displays a
mitred head. The cusps under the arms on the eastern side still
retain some lineaments of animal visage, but they are so much
weather-worn that it is impossible to say what animals they
represented. The western face of the northern cusp is broken
away. The southern cusp on the western side is cut into a pretty
life-like representation of a ram.
If we met with this cross in a place which had been long ago
a centre of artistic progress, we would have no difficulty in assigning
it, on the evidence of its Tudor leaf and ogee arch, to the late decorated
period of architecture. But we cannot reasonably assume that
Devenish was always up-to-date in art and architecture. These
arts had their development towards the west, and for the slowness
of that development we must make ample allowance in calculating
the age of remains found in an out-of-the-way place like Devenish.
 FRAGMENTS.

REEN with the moss of ages, and scattered

about the ruins, are many interesting frag
ments of early sculpture ; some placed
for preservation in a niche or corner,
and others, half hidden in the rank grass
of the graveyard, looking like pieces of
broken-down gentility trying to conceal
their fallen greatness in a workhouse ward. The
finely interlaced cross shown in the accompanying
drawing is, we believe, one of the earliest speci
mens of Irish cross. It measures i ft. 6 in.
by i ft. i in. Quite recently we examined an
early cinerary urn found in a prehistoric cist,
the base of which is marked with a similar cross
within a circle. Whether the latter cross is a
symbol or merely an ornament we cannot say.
Figure 2 represents a plain Roman cross
in relief on a stone measuring 15 in. x 8 in.,
and very commonly, but erroneously, believed Interlaced Cross.

to be an altar stone. Dr. Petrie, who deals with stones of this class,
conjectures that they were carved as a souvenir of a visit, or a

3.— Fragment in Molaise's House.

Fig. 2.— Plain Cross.

pilgrimage to the place where they are found, by some distinguished
personage.
78 Devenish : Its History,

The stone figured (No. 3) is at present built into the western

gable of Molaise's house. It measures 8 in. by 8 in., and as there
is nothing else approaching its style of ornament left on the island

Fig. 4.— Ceoss Slaii, St. Mary's Abiiey. F. C. Bigger, I'hoto.

we cannot conjecture what place it held in the monastery. It may

have been the capital of a small pilaster.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 79

Within the choir of the upper church is a very finely

sculptured slabstone (fig. 4) measuring 5 ft. 11 in. and 2 ft. 1 in. at
its widest part. The accompanying photograph gives a better idea
of its style of ornament than any words could convey. It bears
no inscription to tell over whose grave it was laid,
but the absence of a legend shows that it was made
to cover the remains of some person of distinction,
whose name and fame, in the sculptors' estimation,
required no inscription to preserve them from
oblivion. Close to the standing cross in the upper
cemetery is another gravestone (Fig. 5) of the same
shape and dimensions, having a raised, floriated
cross, but without any interlaced ornament. To
wards the foot of the lower cemetery there is a
perfect, incised gravestone, measuring 6 ft. x 1 ft.
g in. Its style of ornamentation assigns it to a
very early date, probably the sixth or seventh
century. The incised grave slabs figured on page 81
are from St. Maurice's, York. Similar gravestones
are to be met with around most later middle-age
foundations. In the accompanying illustration (page
F'u'pper cemetTONE' 8°) we nave grouped together some interesting
sections of mouldings scattered about the island.
Within the Maguire mausoleum is a boulder which has recently
been described as a Holed Stone. Its upper and lower sides are
scooped out so as to form two basins
about twelve inches in diameter and
8 inches deep. A piece has been
broken out of the thinnest part of
the stone between the bottoms of the
basins. This hole did not enter into
the original design. A great many
stones with similar basins are found Holed Stone.
around pagan settlements in the neighborhood ; for instance, at
Boho; Iniskeen Island; Standing Stone Hill, in Lord Belmore's
demesne, etc. This Devenish stone may have been used in the
celebration of Druidical mysteries before Molaise discovered the
island. The local guide will tell you that it is part of a quern
used by the monks in grinding their corn, but it is no such thing.
In a room of the square towers are some very interesting fragments
 8o Devenish : Its History,

Explanation.—i. Section of the drip moulding of the western door of St. Mary's Abbey. 2. Section of hood
moulding of a window in the same abbey. 3 and 5. Sections of moulding from the old abbey. 6. Sections of
fragments that may have belonged to the pillars of the cloister. 4. Section of the pilaster-quoins of Molaise's
House. 7. -Section of quoin of Teampul Mor. 9. Rose-shaped boss found on the standing cross, and on a number
of corbels, &c., among the ruins. 10. Sections of the mouldings of the window in the Teampul Mor.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 81

"no

^ 4 S _v

Incised Slabs, St. Maurice's, Yore.

82 Devenish: Its History,

that do not appear to belong to any of the buildings remaining

on the island. The collection includes mouldings, corbels, with
grotesque human heads, &c, &c. The fragment here figured is
evidently part of an elaborately-wrought gravestone.

Incised Gravestone.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 83

,^#S'

mm
Bullan Mareed Base of Cross, Iniseeen.

Sculptured Stones.
 DEVENISH MONKS AND THEIR POSSESSIONS.

HERE were at the dissolutionof Irish monasteries

two "conventual" bodies found on Devenish
—the one described as a " Priory of Regular
Canons," the other as a "House of Secular
Priests." The terminology used in the Report of the Survey of Fer
managh (ist James I.) and ofthe " Inquisition into Ecclesiastical Land
in Fermanagh," taken at Enniskillen 18th September, 1609, is most
misleading. The second body of clergymen spoken of as a
"House of Secular Priests " was in no strict sense of the word
conventual. They were the Culdees, the representatives of the
original occupants, "a college of secular clergy analogous to
secular canons, with no peculiarity of discipline except common
residence and a common table. They devoted themselves to the
maintenance of Divine service and to the practice of choral worship,
in which they excelled."
This is not the place to inquire minutely into the details of the
Rule laid down by St. Molaise for his monks, or of the changes
which the circumstances of after times introduced into it. It is
enough to know that it differs little from the Columban rule, and
that the change of later times only assimilated it to the Culdee
Rules extant in manuscript in our national libraries.1
In Devenish the Culdees had charge of the Parish Church,
of which they were Vicars. Their possessions at the dissolution
embraced the church and priory, an orchard, and four tates of land
—viz., the two tates of Fanagrane and two of Tullagh, together
with two small tates, Gorticloghen and Farrenerioght, in the parish
of Derryvullan. The four first-named tates were in the possession
of Rory Ballogh O'Corcron as corbe ; and their tithes were
possessed by the Prior, O'Flanagan of the Abbey. The Inquisition

1 Among the MS. Monastic Rules preserved in the Dublin Libraries there is a prose tract of
nine small quarto pages drawn up by St. Maelruain of Tamhlacht (Tallagh, Co. Dublin), who died
in the year 787. It contains a minute series of Rules for the Regulation of the Lives of the
Culdees—"their prayers, their preachings, their conversations, their confessions, their com
munions, their abstinences, their relaxations, their sleep, their celebration of Mass, and so forth."
In the metrical Rule of St. Carthach (the founder of Llsmore), who died on the 14th of May,
636, there are twelve stanzas, or forty-eight lines, on the life and duties of thu Culdees. A transla
tion of It may be found in "The Irish Eccl. Record," vol. 1., pp. 174-173.
 Devenish : Its History, A ntiquities and Traditions. 85

of 1609" shows that the Bishop of Clogher was entitled to one beef
per annum out of the possession of the Culdees, or in lieu of it to
twenty groats.
[Note. —Those who desire the fullest accumulated testimonies
and the most searching investigation in reference to the Culdees
should read the late Bishop Reeves' " Culdees of the British Islands."
Dublin, 1864]
The decadence of the early ecclesiastical discipline in the 12th
century consequent on the Danish wars and the Norman Invasion,
turned the attention of St. Malachy to the necessity of reforming
the religious orders, with a view to reviving the penitential
spirit of their glorious past. " Despairing of introducing the rigid
discipline of our early Irish monasteries, he undertook to establish
a new order which would resemble them in many respects;
and indeed the similarity between the rule which regulated our
early Irish monastic institutions and those practised by the Canons
Regular served to remove much of the hostility with which the
incipient reform was likely to be regarded. The Canons, though
living in community and faithfully practising the duties of com
munity life, also zealously discharged the laborious duties of the
mission."
It is probably to their introduction in Devenish that the
interpolations of the Annals of Ulster refer under the year 1130,
where they record the founding of the monastery of Devenish.
Archdall is certainly wrong in referring that entry to the introduc
tion of the Culdees ; for the researches of the learned Dr. Reeves
have made it plainly evident that they were not a mediaeval impor
tation, but the successors of Molaise's first monks.
The possessions of the Regular Canons at Devenish at the time of
the suppression were, roughly speaking, the following :—The Abbey
and its precincts with an orchard adjoining ; a Church and a building
adjoining it, together with a cellar adjoining to that building, and
some chambers lately built thereon, and also some other small
buildings ; an orchard with a small garden and a few closes,
containing three acres within the said precincts, the whole island of
Devenish containing 30 acres of small measure, four tates of old
measure, with their tithes—viz., five tates in the barony of Cool

1 The jurors were—Donnell Maguire, Dean of Lough Erne; Shane MacHugh, Brian
O'Corcharn, Owen O'Flanagan, Brian MacThomas, Shane MacEnabbe Maguire.Rorie O'Corrigan,
Patrick MacDonnell, Patrick MacHugh Maguire, Brian MacDoile MacCabe, Cormac O'Cassidy,
Hugh O'Flanagan, Gillegare O'Hoane, Cahil Maguire.
86 Devenish : Its History,

mackernan ; Bonanibber, one tate ; Tullagh and Toghill, one tate ;

Killencloghan, one tate ; Dromaklawnagh, one tate ; Arderry, half
a tate ; Ardinabally, half a tate ; and a quarter-and-a-half of land
containing eight tates of the ancient small measure—viz.,
Drumgemple, two tates ; Enislern, Rosleagh, Moynenergidi,
Findraught and Charranchirrin, Magherinegannah and Fogher.

Part of the Barony of Magheryboy, from Map of 1609.

The herenaghs or lay-stewards of these lands were :—O'Tully of

half, O'Cassidy of one quarter, and O'Casy of the other quarter.
The record of the Bishop of Clogher's tithes out of Devenish
is particularly interesting, as it gives us not only a fair idea of the
Episcopal revenue in those days, but also the money value of a
number of articles of farm produce. We have already remarked
that the Culdees paid him a beef annually, or in lieu of it 20 groats.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 87

Out of the possessions of the Canons he was entitled to four marks

per annum (each mark being equal to 26 groats and two white
groats), and to threescore Snoaghanes (small bannocks) of oatbread,
and a beef per annum, or in lieu of the bread 10/-, and in lieu of the
beef a noble. He was, moreover, entitled to a week's board and
lodging at the Abbey on the occasion of his annual visitation, and
if the Canons failed to supply him with wine and aquavitae, they
should pay him 4/- in lieu of it. Besides this refection on the
occasion of his visitation, he had a right to one day's refection each
year in the Abbey (but he was not to remain all night), and in lieu
of it 10/-.
Comparing the six inch Ordnance Survey Map of Fermanagh
with the Baronial Maps of 1609,1 we find that Drumgemple, Tullagh
and Findrough are contained in the modern townland of Tully
Devenish (101a. or. 14P.) lying along the lakeshore. Fennagran is
now called The Graan (158a. ir. i8p.). Gortaghlaghan is spelled
more euphonically—Gortaloghan (271a. 3r. 15P.). The tate of
Dromaklawnagh is contained in the modern townland of Drum-
bocany (115a. ir. up.). Moynenergidi (the Silver Meadow) is
contained in Silverhill (295a. ir. 21 p.). Magherinegaranah is
divided between Magherar and Carrickrea ; the tate of Fogher is
now the small townland of Faugher (54a. or. 6p.), through which
the Derrygonnelly road passes below Springfield.

1 " Maps of the Escheated Counties in Ireland, 1609, etc.," published by the Ordnance Survey
Office, 1861.
 THE ABBOTS OF DEVENISH.

s.OLAISE, as we have seen, soon passed away

from the abode of peace, religion, and learn
ing which he had founded on Devenish ; but
his monastery remained spreading like the
plant that grows to be a giant tree when
hand that planted it has returned to dust.
His immediate successor was Natalis, whose feast
occurs on the 27th January.
His life, preserved in the MS. in the Bur-
gundian Library, Brussels, speaks of him
as a brother of St. Molaise. This is evidently
a mistake, since his father's name was iEngus, son of
Nadfreach, and his mother's Eithne, daughter of Crimhthann Cros-
grach. He is venerated as Patron of Inver-Naile, County Donegal,
where his monastery was picturesquely situated on the site after
wards occupied by a 15th century Franciscan convent on Inver
Bay. He is also the Patron of the Parish of Kinawly, situated
partly in the Barony of Tullyhaw, County Cavan, and partly in the
Baronies of Clanawley and Knockninny, in the County Fermanagh.
Here are the ruins of an nth or 12th century church, pleasantly
situated on the southern shore of Lough Mac Nane. Close by is
the Tober Naile, St. Nawley's Well, and a small cemetery ; near the
water's edge is a truly magnificent bullan stone.
Natalis' Acts are so mixed up with the lives of other men
bearing the same name that it is impossible to make anything out
of them. Colgan placed no reliance on them. They involve
persons, places, and dates in such inextricable confusion that for
historical purposes they are of very little value. We cannot but
regret, while wading through them, that the author, who must have
had accurate information within easy reach, should have filled his
pages with accounts of incredible prodigies and miracles, while
he ignored those personal and mental peculiarites and traits which
give such a charm to St. Bernard's " Life of St. Malachy," or
Trevellyan's Life of Lord Macaulay. Even the year of his death is
uncertain. Archdall gives 563 a.d. ; O'Hanlon and others, 564
a.d. We prefer the latter date.
 Devenish : Its History, A ntiquities and Traditions. 89

Siollan is the next Abbot of Devenish mentioned by the

Annalists. To him the martyrologies give but a local habitation
and a name. He died on the 1 7th of May, 658, ' and for upwards
of a hundred years we find no mention made of his successors.
Under the year 746 the death of another abbot is recorded."
A.D.
815. Reachtabhra Ua Andola, Abbot of Devenish, died. 3
867. Martin, a learned scribe, the Abbot of Devenish, and Clon-
macnoise, died.4
868. Maelodhar, anchorite, Bishop and Abbot of Devenish, died.5
890. Loichene, Abbot of Devenish, died.
891. Maelachaidh, vice-Abbot (i.e., Prior) of Clonmacnoise, and
Abbot of Devenish, suffered martyrdom from the Dealbhana-
Eathra, a tribe whose patrimony lay in the present Kings
County.6 Their chieftain's son, Scolaige, had been slain by
the people of Clon-macnoise the previous year. Maelachaidh
before his death protested on oath that he had no part in the
slaying of Scolaige.
917. St. Ciaran, Abbot of Devenish, died.7
922. Maelmordha, son of Conghalach, Abbot of Devenish, died.
955. Colman, son of Conghal, successor of Molaise of Devenish,
died.
974. Diarmaid, son of Dochartach, abbot, died.
984. Foghartach Ua Congaile, a distinguished scribe, and Abbot of
Devenish, died.
995. Cormac Ua Conghaile, Abbot of Devenish, died.
1001. Cathalan Ua Corcrain, Abbot of Devenish, died.
1025. Ceanfaeladh, son of Flaithbertach the herenagh, successor of
Molaise and Gilachrist its rector, died. It was for him the
famous book shrine, known as the Sheskeil Molaise, was
made by Gillabarthin the artist.'
1038. Colman Caech Ua Conghaile, successor of Molaise (i.e.,
Abbot of Devenish), died.
1049. Maelcainnigh Ua Taichligh, Abbot of Devenish, died.0
1 1 14. Flann MacFlannchadha, '0 successor of Molaise, died.
1. Acta Sanctorum. Index.
2. Acta Sanctorum. Index.
3. Annals of Ulster record his death under 818 A.n.
4. An. Ulster, 868.
5- A. U., 869.
6. A. V.. 895.
7- A. U. 913.
8. See chapter on the Soiscel Molaise.
9. Dr O'Donovan says this name is Anglicized 'fully and Tilly. We believe It Is more fre
quently Anglicized Flood. In 1347 an O'Talchligh was official of Lough Erne.
10. This name Is Anglicized MacClancey and Clancey.
90 Deveuish : Its History,

1 1 68.The great priest, Ua Mongachain, successor of Molaise, died.

1336. O'Mechin, successor of Molaise, died. '
1379. James O'Connelly, Prior of Devenish, died.
1390. Niall O'Taichlich, Canon Chorister of Clogher and Abbot of
Devenish, died.
1417. Master John, Parson of Devenish, died on the 6th of the
Kalend of October (Sept. 26th.)
1419. Hugh O'Flanagan, Prior of Devenish, died on the feast of St.
Martin (Nov. nth.)
1450. Nicholas O'Flanagan, the Prior of Devenish, died in Rome
whither he had gone with " The Maguire " and others, on the
occasion of the opening of the " Golden Gate." * Many
Fermanagh pilgrims died in Rome, of a plague, in that year.
1462. The Prior of Devenish, i.e., Bartholomew, the son of Hugh
O'Flanagan, died on Lough Derg He is probably the Bar
tholomew O'Flanagan who repaired the Abbey of St. Mary
in 1449. An inscribed stone, to which we elsewhere refer,
reads : " Matthew O'Dubigan did this work when Bartholo
mew O'Flanagan was Prior of Devenish, 1449."* He
must have been only sub-prior in that year.
1479. Pierce, the son of Nicholas O'Flanagan, who had been a
Canon Chorister of Clogher, a parson and prior of Culdees,.
and Sacristan at Devenish, an official of Lough Erne, a
charitable, pious, truly hospitable and humane man, died*
after having gained the victory over the devil and the world.''
1505. Lawrence O'Flanagan, Prior of Devenish, died.
1520. Nicholas O'Flanagan, the Prior of Devenish, was unjustly
deposed through the interference of the laity. He died at
Boho.
1521. Redmond O'Flanagan, who succeeded Nicholas, died. An
O'Flanagan was prior of Devenish when Fermanagh was sur
veyed under James I. Davis merely mentions his name.
[The O'Flanagans were once a powerful and turbulent people
in Fermanagh. Their territory, Tuath Ratha, extended from Belmore
mountain to Belleek, and from Lough Melvin to Lough Erne. The
Annals (a.d. 1498) say that Achaidh More was the residence of

1 See ref. in Chapter on Sheskeit Molaise.

2. Opening of the Golden Gate, i.e., a year of Jubilee. Pope Sums IV. (147144) ordered
that the " Porta Sancta "to St. Peter's, known as the " Golden Gate,' ' should be left open only
during the Jubilee year—every 25th year.
3 See chapter on St. Mary's Abbey.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 9'

O'Flanagan. Its site and environments are still pointed out.

James O'Flanagan, a descendant of this family, was a lieutenant in
Dillon's Regiment of the Irish Brigade, and his brother John was a
colonel in the Austrian service.]
The only apology we can offer for the brevity of these notices is
that given by Richerius the venerable chronicler of Sens : "Quia
nihil plus invenio, nihil scribere possum."

Monea Castle and Crannogf. Ii. Welch, Photo.

 WHAT THE ANNALISTS SAY OF DEVENISH.

ERH APS it would he well, having drawn so largely

from the ancient chroniclers in compiling the
foregoing list of Abhots and Priors, to add here
all the other references to Devenish we have
found in their pages. By way of apology for
the meagreness of the information they contain, it
may be well to remark that the monks were not
usually satisfied with the modicum of information
which we inherit from their scanty entries. Our
ancient annals were compiled, for the most part, from
the works of monastic chroniclers— from more or
less extended registers of the different monasteries.
Each name entered in those registers had its own
peculiar history, and that history was preserved
in the traditions of the chapter-room, and of the cloister. Every
name in the register was made the text of a grave homily, or
recalled some touching story, kept alive not only by being repeated
on every recurring anniversary, among the company around the
refectory fire, and among the lay-brothers in the kitchen, but by
being told to the knights and squires who used the Guest-house as
an inn, and to the pilgrims and visitors from other religious houses
who were never denied charitable hospitality. It is not difficult to
imagine how blood-curdling was the comment the Guest-house
Shannaus made on the entry in the "Annals of Munster," a.d. 822,
where we are told the Danes in that year plundered Devenish
and destroyed the Abbey; or on M'Geogh's still briefer account
of their raid upon it in 834 a.d. Were the traditions of Devenish
regarding the devastations of the Danes in 961 extant, we would
have very little difficulty in determining to what particular monastery
the 10th century Lough lime Shrine, fished up some years ago at
Abbey Point, belonged.
Under the year 1012, the chroniclers record the death of
MacScanlain the Erenagh of Devenish, but they tell us nothing of
the unsettled state of society, which in preceding ages made it
necessary for the brotherhood to appoint some valiant chieftain in
the neighbourhood steward and defender of their possessions; nor
do they tell us how or when that important and profitable office
 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities and Traditions. 93
passed from the MacScanlain to the O'Casey family, although they
mention, in passing, that Connor O'Casey, the Erenagh of Munster-
Casey, in Devenish, died in 141 1. What an interesting addition to
local history would he the note book of an industrious newspaper
man who might have occupied a vantage corner by the logwood lire
in the Devenish kitchen on the night of poor Connor O'Casey's
decease. But reporters were scarce in those days, and the loss is
ours. The O'Caseys were still Erenaghs of Munster-Casey in
the parish of Devenish, when the monastery was suppressed in the
beginning of the 17th century. Thsy were an offshoot of the

Tui.i.y Casti.k. A . Talc, I'lwlo.

powerful Westmeath family of that name, whose patrimony O'Dugan

places in Saithne (the present Sonagh). O'Halloran speaks of the
O'Caseys as Chiefs of Ralhconan in Limerick, and says the Ms-
counts Perry, afterwards Earls of Limerick, were descended from
an heiress of this family, and inherited part of their estate. The
family isstill very well represented in Fermanagh. With the O'Caseys
as stewards of the Devenish Church lands, were associated the
MacTullys, Chiefs of Hy Laoghaire, of Lough Lir, in the barony
of Lurg towards Tyrone. Tully Castle, the ruins of which are
picturesquely situated on the south-western shoreof the Lower Lake,
94 Devenish: Its History,

is commonly but eironeously associated with the family. It takes

its name, not from the MacTully family, but from its elevated site
near the water, and is, like Portora, a modern Plantation Castle.
Existing records do not assist conjecture very much in
estimating the degree of perfection to which literature was brought
at Devenish. The Round Tower, the Abbey, the richly-sculptured
Cross, and the Soiscel Molaise, are abiding proofs that the builder's,
sculptor's, and metal worker's arts were successfully cultivated ;
but of the literateur's labours no monument remains. Far back in
the distant past, no doubt, the visitor to Devenish was led to the
" Scriptorium" and allowed to feast his eyes on the neatly-written,
and perhaps chastely-illuminated folios of the learned scribe Moyledor,
who died a.d. 868, and their continuation by Fogartach, another
scribe, who was gathered to his fathers in 894. From the Acts of
Columbanus and others who studied at Cleenish, we learn that
Greek, Hebrew, and Sacred Scripture held prominent places in the
curriculum of its schools. Were the MS. lectures of the learned
Professor of Devenish, Christian, who died in 1025, preserved to us
we would probably find that the course of studies in the School of
Molaise was equally extensive. Many of these invaluable records
perished, no doubt, in the fires that destroyed the Abbey in n 57
and 1 360, many more were disposed of as useless lumber by the
English soldiers who occupied the Abbey in 1602 ; and if an
occasional one was carried off by the flying monks and escaped the
ravages of time since then, it is probably mouldering now under the
dust of undisturbed repose on the shelves of some Continental
library.1
The Leabhar-Breac, fol. 48, speaks of " Devenish of the
Assemblies," a name which it seems to have owed to the fact that,
being neutral ground, it was frequently used as a place of conference
by the chieftains of Ulster. We have already seen that in the life
time of Molaise eight warriors went there to settle their differences.
In the middle of the 13th century, when Ulster and Connacht were
in the throes of civil war, Hugh O'Connor, King of Connacht, and
Brian O'Neill, who had entered into an alliance at Newry the
previous year, met in a friendly conference at Devenish in 1259

1 Gllla Moduda O'Cassidy, Abbot of Ardbrecean, In Meaih, a native of Fermanagh, who had
been educated at Devenish, was a celebrated poet and historian in the 12th century, and wrote a
valuable chronological poem on the Christian Kings of Erin. It Is given in O'Connor's Herum
Mb. Scripiores.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 95
with a view to securing united action against the Foreigners. As a
result of that conference the battle of Drom-Deirg (near Downpatrick)
was fought in 1260. The Earl of Salisbury, the Lord Deputy,
commanded the English ; Brian O'Neill, supported by Hugh
O'Connor, led the Irish. Brian was slain, and with him fell fifteen
of the " noblest chieftains of the Gaidhil."

J.IS'IDOI. Chalice. Fr.NNYHAI.CH CHALTCK. Hollywood Chai.ice.

A.n. 173c). A.n. 1527. A.n. 1751.

MAGUIRK CHALICES.

The first was presented by Sir Bryan Maguire to Lisgool Abbey ; the
second one was made by Cuconnacht Maguire ; and the third was presented by
Sir Bryan Maguire to Peter Maguire. — U.J. A., page 8G, vol. III.
 PATRON DAY AT DEVENISH.

REATLY anxious to conciliate popular prejudices the

first preachers of Christianity in Ireland accommo
dated, as far as possible, their teachings to pre
existing observances, and tolerated the continu
ance of such national customs as did not come
in direct conflict with the truths of Christianity,
converting many pagan ordinances into Christian
festivals, and consecrating to God many places and objects
that were before dedicated to pagan worship. It was this
spirit of compromise that induced the pioneers of Christianity
in this country to erect their first churches within the enclosures
already deemed sacred in the religious enthusiasm of the people.
On the pillar stone they carved the standard of their crusade :
standing on the brink of the fountain, then consecrated by Druidic
rites, they converted its waters into fountains of baptismal regenera
tion—thus originated the peculiar veneration, so fondly cherished
from the dawn of Christianity in Ireland, for her Holy Wells. From
the same source we have derived the once popular celebrations of
" May-pole-day," " St. John's Eve," " Hallow Eve," and many
other national anniversaries to which old and young once looked
forward with pleasure— celebrations which the utilitarian spirit of
modern progress is fast relegating to oblivion. Patron celebrations
at the wells and shrines of saints were a natural development of
the conciliatory policy of the first preachers of Christianity in
Ireland.
All our local saints had their wells. They built their churches
on the brink of a clear spring, and in the course of time the well,
like the church, became identified with the saint's name1 Some of
the most interesting stories of our Hagiology, as well as the poetic
legends and folklore of the peasantry, deal with these consecrated
wells ; and consequently we find them inseparably connected with
the ecclesiastical topography and traditional observances of every
district in Ireland. Some form of devotion at the Holy Well
usually entered into the ceremonies of the Patron Day, and very
often the well itself, and not the church, was the centre of attraction
on such occasions.
i Vide " Baker's Wanderings in France," pp. 255, et seq. [8vo. London, 1890].
 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions. 97

Devenish had its Holy Well. Frith's map, a.d. 1808, shows
an immense hawthorn tree to the north of the Abbey, and
" Beneath its spreading branches lay,
Deep, clear and still, a crystal well
Where monks would oft their aves say,
And pilgrims would their rosaries tell."
Whether or not it was a christianised pagan fountain we cannot say ;
very likely it was. It continued a favourite place of resort on
St. Molaise's Feast Day, September 12th, down to the present
century, and that too notwithstanding the severe penalties,
including fines, imprisonments and public whippings dealt out by
//. Ann i. 6., to all persons assembling at such wells.
The tradition embodied in our account of Molaise's Shrine,
shows that the following observations on the use and abuse of
Patrons, made by the Rev. Joseph Saynds, Rector of Fiddon, in the
beginning of this century, describes pretty accurately the scene that
Devenish witnessed on each recurring 12th of September.
" It would appear that the clergy and laity annually assembled
at their respective churches on those solemn occasions, not only to
implore the future tutelage of their Patron Saint, but also to offer
prayers and distribute alms for their departed friends, from whose
venerated tombs they cleared the rank weeds and decorated them
with the gayest flowers of the season, renewing at the same time
the mournful dirge, in which was recounted every worthy action of
the deceased and of his relatives, as on the day of his interment ;
hence it was necessary to erect temporary lodgings or booths in the
neighbourhood of the. churches, and to procure provisions for the
poor, which were distributed to them in charity by the pious of
every denomination, as also to find refreshment for strangers whose
devotion frequently brought them from very remote places on those
occasions."
" Such was doubtless the first institution of Patron Days, and
such it continued for ages until the Reformation." The law for
bade these assemblies. " Yet the people, ever tenacious of the
religion of their fathers, assembled as usual on each anniversary
day. But they were now become like a flock without a shepherd,
and exercises of devotion at such meetings gradually gave place to
profane amusements. The pious and devout having in a great
measure forsaken these degenerate assemblies, a total relaxation of
discipline and good order prevailed amongst the ungoverned multi
98 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

tude ; drunkenness and riot became in time familiar ; and those days
originally devoted to the honour of God seemed now wholly set apart
to celebrate the orgies ot the prince of darkness." Frith tells us
that the local clergy attended the "Station " at Molaise's Well, and
took advantage of it to instruct the people. When he wrote in 1808
the patrons on Devenish had been discontinued.
A slight depression in the ground, and an unusual verdure at the
place we have indicated, is all that remains to point out this once
lively scene of prayer arid merry-making. Not a trace remains of
the spreading tree beneath whose friendly shade the boys and girls
of former days, blushing and smiling, and unburdened with the
cares of life, timed with light hearts and agile limbs their favourite
dances. "Old times are changed, old manners gone."
 DEVENISH LEGENDS.
" Ye of intellect
Sound and entire, mark well the lore concealed
Under the close texture of the mystic strain."
Dante, Inferno ix, 62,

REAT numbers of beautiful legends cluster

around Devenish and the shores of Lough Erne.
Though sometimes based on facts, as we shall
see, these legends are more frequently the
beautiful and poetic imaginings of faith, but
they are not on that account the less interesting.
Like the golden sunlit clouds that sometimes
float across the sky, these compounds of fact
and fancy float across the horizon of truth
and make the sky of faith more beautiful.
The most pathetic of the legends referring to
Devenish is often quoted by those who under
take to explain how the island ceased to be
popular as a burying-place. The date of
the story is not usually put in figures, but the
facts are these : — A young man in the neigh
bourhood of Garvery was dying of a lingering illness. His fathers
for generations had been interred in Devenish. He had discussed
with his broken-hearted mother his own burial with them. It was
settled that he should be laid with kith and kin in the Holy Island,
but he was not yet satisfied. Ever and anon he drew a broken ring
from under his pillow and gazed upon it. " Mother, will she come ?
Will she be in time ? Mother, when Ellen dies will you have her,
too, buried by my side in Devenish ?" His mother cheered him ;
nor was it necessary to assure him that his Ellen Would hasten to
take her last farewell of him, but she could not promise that she
should sleep by his side in Devenish. 1
"For Ellen is hut book-bound unto thee '
And comes not of our kin ; and she, sweet son ! 1
Most like, with her own kin shall die and rest."
Ellen came and gave him the assurance that his mother could not
give. She shared that mother's vigils by his sick bed ; she helped
to soothe his dying agony, and she closed his eyes in death. Two
days later a funeral cortege passed round Derrygore hill. Two stal
wart oarsmen sat in a cot in the little harbour. The procession
ioo Devenish : Its History,

halted at the water's edge. The coffin was placed in the stern and
an aged woman and a robust young man took their seats beside it.
The priest was there. He was endeavouring to soothe the sorrows
of a young girl—the affianced of the dead. He gently but firmly
insisted that she should not cross to the island, but he insisted in
vain. She broke away from her sympathisers and rushed into the
cot and clasped her arms around the coffin and relieved her breaking
heart in passionate tears. A few vigorous strokes and they were
well out from the shore, when suddenly the heavens overhead
" Opened, and flasht and crasht, and the rain rusht
Ploughing the waters where it plunged; and a wind
Lasht the wild lake to such high foam
The blown floss of a myriad thistle flowers it seemed
Flew over it, and like a winding sheet
Enwrapt the boat, and shrouded them therein,
As towards their burial, and the quick and dead
Went down together."

The " frail, perfidious barque " floated no more ; but when the hurri
cane blew by, and the waters calmed again, the dead man's coffin
floated, and around it were clasped his " bound-bride's white arms,"
and a gentle breeze from the west wafted the twain ashore. Two
other corpses floated near them—the widowed mother and her
second son. Gently and reverently all four were laid side by side
in Devenish, and there they await the resurrection.
" Then rose the priest,
And bade the sexton delve a deeper grave ;
And when the lark upon the morrow morn
Soared from the Abbey shrine, and high in Heaven
Melted to song above the new-made grave,
They laid the dead therein, and the priest wept,
And blest, and breathed a prayer that their sweet souls
Might rest in peace."
It is from Major Cowan's beautiful version of this legend we
have quoted. A somewhat different version of it will be found in
Hall's " Irish Scenery and Irish Character," vol. ii.
The plain prosaic facts of a similar accident (which may
possibly be the groundwork of the foregoing legend), are thus
described by James Kelly, of Tully, an octogenarian, who was an
eye-witness to the events he records:— In March, 1821, one
John Maguire, a thatcher by trade, who lived in the Commins,
near the present Enniskillen Fair Green, died. A violent
 Antiquities and Traditions. 101

hurricane swept the lake on the day on which his funeral cortege
embarked, in four cots, at the extremity of Derryhinch Lane, for
Devenish. One of the cots, containing the coffin and twenty-two
persons—most of them relatives of the deceased —was overturned a
short distance from the shore. Three men swam ashore; the
remaining nineteen were drowned. The coffin floated and was
picked up next day at Troary. A large party was formed to drag
the lake for the dead bodies. For weeks they continued the search.
With the permission of John Rankin, of Tully, who was at that
time the tenant of Devenish, they lighted a large fire in the Chapter
house of St. Mary's Abbey, alongside the portion of the ruins which
he had converted into a barn. The barn was accidentally set on
fire, and there are a few old people in the neighbourhood who still
speak of the incident as the " Burning of Devenish."

TI112 BELLS.
When speaking of the square tower of St. Mary's Abbey we
remarked that there are two apertures in the floor for bell ropes.
Before its suppression the monastery seems to have possessed many
bells—among others, one blessed by the patron, Saint Molaise, which
was guarded with most reverent care by the monks. When we
remember the veneration in which the Irish held the bells of their
patron saints, and the miraculous powers they attributed to them,
and the artistic skill they lavished on shrines for them, we can form
some idea of the alarm that spread among the little brotherhood on
Devenish, when, as tradition tells, a number of soldiers came one
day with orders to seize their bells and bring them to Armagh.
According to the pretty legend that is handed down, the bells were
brought to the shore and placed in boats. The boat containing
Molaise's bell was detained some time owing to the entreaty of the
monks to have it spared to them, or perhaps to the denunciations of
woe with which they threatened any one who should dare to
dishonour this much-prized relic of their patron. Prayers and
imprecations were alike unavailing, and the boat was shoved off,
amid the lamentations of the vanquished and the sneers of the
victors. About midway between the island and the Friar's Leap
the boat sprung a leak and went down with its precious burden,
which has never since been recovered. It is kept somewhere at the
bottom of the lake, where its muffled chimes used to be heard at
Vesper time in unison with the other bells which were brought to
102 Devenish : Its History,

Armagh. A somewhat similar story is told of the bell of Killy-

donnell Abbey, which is supposed to be heard once every seven
years from the depths of Lough Swilly. The fishermen who used
to hear these bells, and occasionally touch them with their barge
poles, have long since passed to the majority, and now
" They live but in the poet's rhymes
The silver bells and the good old times "
It is not improbable that this legend has a foundation in fact. The
monks themselves may have sunk the bell in the lake to preserve it
from the despoiler. We know that the Franciscans before flying
from Ross-Errily in 1656, took down the great bell of the convent
and sunk it in the river where, according to tradition it still remains.
The bell of Irrelagh Priory, Co Kerry, met with the same fate.
An Irish Franciscan told us quite recently that it was the common
practice of members of his order, when compelled to fly their
convents to bury their church plate and other valuables, and that
from the minute descriptions they left of those hiding places, many
interesting relics have been recovered. We cannot suppose that
other Orders were less wordly wise. They would naturally adopt
the same precautions : valuable finds of church plate in the vicinity
of almost every monastery in Ireland, justify us in supposing that
they did, and in believing that there is still a hope of Molaise's Bell
being fished up at the end of a line, as the Lough Erne Shrine was
some years ago.

THU FRIAR S LEAP.

There is a curious legend accounting for the origin of the
channel separating a small island from the mainland a little to the
west of Devenish. The name by which it is known, The Friar's
Leap, is suggestive. At present it is not more than twelve yards
wide, but before the drainage of the lake it must have been at least
ten times that width. Here, in a few words, is the tale tradition tells.
At a time unknown to chronology there was a monk on
Devenish, who, however familiar he may have been with the
ininUtia of his rule, failed sometimes to put them in practice. He
was wont to take a stolen trip round the country, once in a while, to
have a chat with the neighbours. He laid his plans so carefully
that his superiors failed to detect the delinquency. Other eyes,
however, were upon him which he could not elude. As the sun
went down behind Belmore one evening, the monk was slowly
 Antiquities and Traditions. 103

ascending the western slope of Derryhinch, meditating on God

knows what, when a stranger accosted him. He was gaily attired,
but the brilliancy of his eyes was a defilement. The monk addressed
him in language that was scarcely provided for in the Devenish
code of etiquette. The stranger returned a civil answer, and forced
his company on the poor monk who wished him —at home! What
were the monk's reflections? "Since Molaise blessed Devenish the
enemy of mankind in general, and of monks in particular, never
dare set his foot on its sacred soil, but he lurks around its shores;
seeking whom he may devour, and here am I practically in his
hands after violating my rule! What am I to do? I will run for it."
" As darts the dolphin from the shark,
Or the deer before the hound,"
the monk rushes down the eastern slope of the hill, and after him,

Cattle on Shores of Lough Erne

A. R. Hogg, Photo.

fiercer than the shark, swifter than the hound, darts the bright-eyed
stranger. The race was an exciting one. The monk, finding
himself between " the devil and the deep water," ran for bare life.
At every stride he felt the fierce, hot breath of his pursuer ruffling
the hair that already stood erect upon his poll. Not being accus
tomed to violent exercise his strength soon gave way, and his
pursuer steadily gained upon him. They were nearing the water's
edge, the pursuer still gaining. He stretched out his hand and
grasped the flowing habit of the monk ; but he was late. The monk
had made one desperate bound into space, leaving his habit in the
stranger's clutch. Fiercer grew the fierce eyes as he beheld the
104 Devenish : Its History,
i
monk landing " high and dry " on an island that rose out of the
water to receive him. After making use of some of the worst
language his vocabulary afforded, he returned by a short cut to his
own country, and the monks, aroused by the thunders of his impre
cations, discovered their brother on the newly-formed island, and at
once brought him to the monastery, where he narrated his strange
adventure. Needless to say, he paid no more stolen visits to the
mainland.

THE LOUGH ERNE BANSHEE.

There is a superstitious belief in the Enniskillen neighbourhood

of Lough Erne, that no year can pass without at least two deaths
from drowning in the lake.1 From one cause or another, un
fortunately, the prediction (?) is too generally fulfilled. The
carelessness which familiarity too often begets frequently proves
fatal to the votaries of Bacchus who seek enjoyment on the waters.
Such fatalities were always preceded in the olden times by a
very strange phenomenon. For three nights previous to any fatal
boating accident a weird unearthly figure was seen walking on the
waters between Devenish and Innismacsaint, and giving vent to most
heart-rending shrieks of lamentation. The remnants of this
tradition which have reached us are very meagre, but they remind
us forcibly of the story which the Hon. Emily Lawless tells of the
" Gray Washerwoman of the Ford"* whom the Earl of Essex
encountered on the banks of the Lagan. The version of this legend,
which we have received from some old fishermen in the neighbour
hood, seems to connect it with an incident recorded in the life of
Aiden or Moedoc, the friend of Molaise.s A poor woman, whose
sons were drowned in Lough Erne, came to Molaise in the hope that
he would secure the finding of their bodies. He told her to go to the
lake shore and await the coming of his friend, Moedoc. She
hastened to the shore, and straightway Moedoc came, and the
sorrowing mother told her tale of woe. He, knowing that his friend
Molaise, had referred her to him, and trusting in that holy man's
intercession with heaven, boldly entered the lake and drew forth her
sons alive. In return for this favour her grateful spirit remained for

i In the neighbourhood of Gallon, in the Upper Lake, it is believed that through the interces
sion of Tighernach no deaths from drowning have ever occurred there.
2 " With Essex in Ireland." London, 1890, pp. 242 cl seq.
3 Vita S. Maidoci Acta Sanct. Hib. 209.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 105

ages on the lake, a pilgrim, like " Lir's lonely daughter," warning
the incautious of its dangers. The modern revenue laws and the
spread of temperance societies have banished her, with the fairies,
from the locality.

Crkvenisii Cash.!-:, I.owf.e I.01:011 I'.rne. IT. Welch, Photo.

 THE SURROUNDINGS.

TANDING on the summit of Devenish on a

clear evening the view is one of surpassing
loveliness—a magnificent panorama of hill
and dale and wood and water. It seems as
if one of nature's treasure-houses were thrown
open—a sanctuary where she reigns supreme,
where art has never entered, and where man
is insignificant. Here emerald-green meadows
seem to melt into the opal wave, and there,
from the very water's edge, hills rise upon hills,
like the foot-stools of those distant mountains
that are coved and recessed like a giant honeycomb.
Fresh vistas of gem-like lakes appear on every
side, broken up into the most delightful disorder
by the numerous islands, some wooded, ' some
bare, all contrasting finely with the clear blue
sky, decked with an occasionally fleecy cloud.
The sun moving down the western slope of the
sky, where its wheels ever seem to gather
speed, gilds the crest of every tiny wavelet,
until the lake seems a sea of molten gold. The wooded
shores and islands lend that mysterious intermixture of shadow and
reflection which is the hope and the despair of the landscape
painter. While gazing upon this scene at sunset the feeling creeps
over you that the pen is powerless, and that the painter's brush
alone could save the scene from passing away forever. You are
inclined to soliloquise with the Hermit of Kinseideln—
" If God has made
So wondrous fair this place of banishment ;
If He thus lends to what must pass away
So rich a bloom, that the poor soul of man
Is lost in its exceeding loveliness,
How fair must be the Heaven where He abides,
Where His elect shall find their endless home ?"
 Devaiish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions. 107

But the vision of earthly happiness quickly passes away. The

waters darken, the earth darkens, the sky assumes deeper purple
tones. The cattle that stood erstwhile knee-deep in the water,
perfect pictures of cheerful, contented indolence, begin to bestir
themselves. The charm that distance lends the hills is heightened
by the veil of blue mist that rises from the waters, anxious appar
ently to screen the frolicking of the dancing waters with the yellow
sands.

'The Winding Banes of Ernf..'

Truly, this is a wonderful district, for one is always consoled

for what he leaves behind in the hope of what lies before him.
Sailing down the lake new scenes present themselves at every turn
of the helm. Lingering in any place, every change in the atmos
phere brings into relief some hitherto unnoticed beauties of the
landscape, and as the field of view is diminished by the shades of
evening, the neat, white-washed farmhouses and cottages are seen
peering out from among clusters of hollyhock and laburnum, and
supplying a feature without which the picture was incomplete.
" Travel where you will in this singularly-beautiful neighbourhood,
io8 Devenish : Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

lovers of the picturesque will have rare treats at every step. It is

impossible to exaggerate in describing the surpassing loveliness of
the whole locality.
" How many thousands there are, who, if just ideas could be
conveyed to them of its attractions, would make their annual tour

Cliff, Ullj.fee.

hither, instead of up the hackneyed and soddened Rhine, infinitely

less rich in natural graces, far inferior in the studies of character it
yields, and [much less abundant in all enjoyments that can recom
pense the traveller. Nothing in Great Britain — perhaps nothing in
Europe — can surpass the beauty of this lake."
 PORTORA.

:. ORMING the most remarkable

feature in the neighbourhood
of Devenish is Portora Hill,
from which " The Royal
School" looks down on a
charming panorama of hill and dale and wood and
water. Among the fanciful derivations of Fermanagh
place-names on which strange theories are sometimes
founded, the supposed origin of the name
Portora (the Port of Tears) is raised by
merit " to a bad eminence." The little
promontory, where Portora Castle now
stands, is said to have been in olden times
the place where funerals embarked for Devenish, and
where the relatives and friends, with tears and lamen
tations, took their last, long farewell of the deceased, and
hence the name " Portora—the Port of Tears." We are
unwilling to disturb theories that have grown grey
with years ; but this theory is too ridiculous to claim
any share of our good-natured respect. Philology mul
topography are both opposed to it.
Philologically the derivation is untenable,
for "Port of Tears," in correct Irish, would be
either po|vc-t)eon (port of tears), or more likely
Ponc-nA-n•oeop pronounced port-na-twre (port of the tears). ln
order to get the final "a" of Portora we must make the Irish word
ponc-t>eotvd (nominative), which, word for word, is Port -tears. This is
contrary to the usual way of forming Irish compounds. A more
likely derivation, and one which would suit the advocates of this
theory equally well, is po|ic-onAT>h pronounced Portora, A being silent
(the port of prayers). Op a* w the genitive plural, hence the pert of
prayers, from which the people in olden times may have set out to
no Devenish : Its History,

assist at Divine service in Devenish—a more common and more

striking occurrence than an occasional funeral procession.
Opposed to both these derivations is the fact that Portora was
not, and could not have been in ancient times, the place of embarka
tion for Devenish, and that for the following reasons : —
The geological formation of the district shows clearly that
Portora was, within historic times, an island as completely sur-

Portoea Royal School. R. Welch, Photo.

rounded by water as Devenish is at present. This being so, the

relatives and friends of the deceased could not have accompanied
the funeral on foot to this supposed port of lamentation. Besides,
even had it been twelve hundred years ago as accessible a way to
Devenish as it is to-day, it was not so extensively used either by
worshippers or funeral mourners as to derive its name from that
use, because those who resided in the district it accommodates
 Antiquities and Traditions. m

neither worshipped nor buried at Devenish. The Maguires, the

Princes of Fermanagh, buried at Lisgool. Down till the suppres
sion of that monastery, about 1590, we have only one instance of a
Maguire being interred in Devenish—viz., Cuconacht Maguire, Lord
of Fermanagh, " a charitable, humane man, and the most renowned
of the race of Colles for a long time," who was treacherously slain
on Creachan, an island belonging to the Friars (by the descendants
of Thomas Maguire) on the 8th of October, 1537. He was first
buried in Devenish, but was soon afterwards " disinterred by the
Friars Minors, who carried him to Donegal Monastery, and there
interred him in a becoming manner." Here, as elsewhere in
Ireland under clan govern
ment, the immediate followers
and dependents of the chieftain
followed his example and buried
at Lisgool, or in the neighbour- u
ing island of Iniskeen. The
natural port for Devenish from
the Derrygorinelly district, from
which the greater part of the
funerals came to Devenish, was
at the termination of the old
road in the modern townland
of Tullydevenish. Local tra
dition—a very safe guide in
such matters—affirms that it
was so ; and a large stone in Bier Stone, in Tully.
Strathearn's field, at the lake
shore, is still pointed out as the bier on which the coffin was placed
while the bearers rested before embarking.
It was, therefore, only after the building of Enniskillen, in the
early part of the 17th century, that Portora became the starting
place for funerals to Devenish ; and we fail to see how it could have
been from that circumstance named the "Port of Tears" upwards
of 1,000 years before that time. The name, we are convinced is
derived from pope a fortress or stronghold, and CoppaX> (pronounced
tora) watching, guarding—the fortress or guard house of the Erne.
Portora was once an island, and the only island along the great
watery highway from Assaroe to the centre of Ireland, that afforded
a secure site for a chieftain's residence. It is one of nature's forti-
112 Deveuisli : Its Histoty,

Uronze Weapons Found at Portora.

 Antiquities and Traditions. 113

fications, and was evidently selected as a Royal Residence at a very

early period in our history. It is not improbable that when the
remnant of the Tuatha-de-Danaan race, after the disastrous battle of
Druim-Lighean, assembled at Bruagh-na-
Boinne to deliberate on the best means of
retrieving their fallen fortunes, some
chieftain was told off to occupy Portora,
just as Ilbreac was sent to guard the
entrance to the Erne from the hill above
Assaroe. To Thomas Plunket's untiring
energy and perseverance we are indebted
for the preservation of the most indubitable
Inniseim.en Arms. proofs of Portora having been, in successive
pre-historic ages, the scene of many sieges.
When the lake reached a very low level in the "dry summer" of 1887,
and again during the drainage operations, he collected from Portora
stream unique specimens of stone and bronze implements that
were antiquated and mouldering in
their watery bed when Molaise and
Finian made "the good discovery"
of Devenish.
The stone hammer (illustrated)
is the most beautiful and interesting
specimen of its class that has yet
come to light. ' It is made of veined
quartzose gneiss, highly polished,
and measures 3^ inches. The mortice
for the handle is peculiarly well
shaped and polished all round like
the exterior. Robert Day, f.s.a.,
who describes this hammer in the
U.J. A., is of opinion that it was
intended for warlike purposes, and
he quotes Sir John Evans as con
firming hisopinion. Notwithstanding
the great weight which the opinion of
these eminent authorities must carry
Portora Stone Hammer.
with it when they pronounce upon
"Stone Implements," we regard it as highly improbable
that a semi-civilized and highly-impetuous people such as
ii4 Devcnish : Its History,

the Irish were, would spend in the preparation of a baton head

the time and labour that the dressing, boring and polishing of this
little hammer must have cost an artizan who had only the rudest
description of tools to work with. There are many hammers and
axes of the stone age found in the neighbourhood of Enniskillen,
which may have been warlike accoutrements, but the hammer
under consideration belongs to a later age, and was evidently used
by metal workers in the production of such microscopic gold
ornamentation as we find on the Soiscel Molaise.
On the hard rocky channel at its narrowest part, and in the bay,
were found some unique remains of the bronze age. They are thus
described by Robert Day, f.s.a., in the U.J. A., vol. II.,

liOAUNl. ON I.OUl.ll l.KNK. A. K. Hork, Photo.

page 47 : * " Four were dredged from the bay of Portora—
namely, a rapier, a spear-head, and two socket-celts. The
rapier is 12 j ins. long by 2 in. wide at the base, where there
are two rivet holes, from whence it tapers gradually to the point.
It was injured and broken in two places by the bucket of the dredge,
but I have had it repaired, and only one inch of the point is wanting.
When perfect it must have been almost 14 inches long. The spear
head has suffered even more by its process of recovery by the dredge.
The thin projecting blades are bent, and the point is broken off and
lost, but enough remains to enable us to add another to the list of
Irish decorated spear-heads. On the very highest authority, that of
Sir John Evans, "had it been uninjured it would have been a unique
 Antiquities and Traditions. "5

example." It measures, in itsbroken state, 15s in. in length, is lozenge-

shaped in section, and has long lozenge-shaped engraved loops on
each side of the socket. A series of six concentric bands surrounds
it, and from these, as a base, spring six engraved triangular ornaments
of the same character as fig. 402, p. 326 (Evans). The sharply-
raised centre ribs of the spear-head have four continuous lines of dot
markings, and four more upon the upper and under surface of the
blades where they spring from the sockets. The spear-head has a
dark-brown patination, and, when perfect, must have been a
singularly beautiful weapon of 20, or perhaps 22 inches in length."
" One of the socket celts is plain and unornamented, with a

bono Caves. A. R. Hogg, Photo,

perfect loop, and is covered completely with a lustrous green patina.
It is 3^ in. long and 3I in. across the widest part of the blade."
" Its companion celt is more straight and chisel-shaped, and has
round the socket, and below the loop, five coils of rope pattern in
such high relief that they convey the first impression that they were
put on to repair and brace up the socket ; but on more minute
examination, it is evident that all were cast together, both the
implement and its cable decoration. It measures 3J inches
long by if inches across the blade. This rope ornament is of
extremely rare occurrence in the British Islands. It occurs upon a
n6 Devenish : Its History,

celt of the same shape, figured by Evans, p. 140, but it differs from
this in having only one rope-twist between two plain bands.
" At the ancient fording place near Portora, were dragged up a
bronze sword and portion of another, a spear-head, brooch, and
battle-axe, a palstave, and javelin head. The sword is 17^ inches
long ; the handle has seven rivet holes, in two of which the rivets
remain.
Like all the swords of
the ancient Irish, it is a
beautiful casting, well pro
portioned, with a perfect
balance, and resembles all
the bronze antiquities found
here in the dark-brown
deposit with which it is
covered, caused by the peaty
earth of the lake bottom in
which it was so long hidden.
The imperfect sword is 8
Bono Cave. A. R.Hogg, Photo. inches in length, of which
the handle, which is in fine preservation, measures 4 inches;
it has only two rather large rivet holes, but these are connected on
both sides by a groove, into which the missing hand parts, probably
of bone, were imbedded, and fastened by the bronze rivets that held
them in their place."
" The spear-head is of remarkable beauty. It is leaf-shaped,
socketed, with one rivet hole, and is covered all over by a deep rich-
brown lustrous patina. It measures 16J inches long, 3 inches across
the blade at its widest part, and tapers to a sharp point, carrying a
swelled mid-rib along its whole length of blade.
"The brooch is of the so-called ' spectacle ' variety. . . .
Ornaments of this kind are of extreme rarity, so much so that, in
my experience, I have seen and acquired only two others besides
this. The disc-like head is now devoid of decoration ; but it is
highly probable that it was originally covered on both sides with an
ornamental design.
" The battle-axe, although with little beauty to recommend
it, is yet the most interesting of all the weapons found at Por
tora. It is apparently of pure copper, and like those of the Fir-
bolgs, is round-pointed and of ruder construction than the sharp
 Antiquities and Traditions. 177

pointed weapons of the Tuatha-de-Danaans. It was attached to its

handle by massive rivets of the same material as itself. Of these it
originally had three, but only one is now in situ.. With its heavy
curved blade, flattened to the edges, it is a formidable and destructive
weapon, and takes us back to an age long before the advent of out
Saviour, when the valleys and hills of Sligo echoed back the war-
cries of the opposing armies who strove in deadly comhat upon the
historic plains of Moytura.
" The palstave is of the winged type, with high stops, five and a
half inches long, and has the side wings ornamented with a series of
lateral grooves. Both sides of the blade are strengthened below the
stops by having the metal beaten up into a half circular form.
" The javelin-head is 3$ inches in length, with a long socket
and short wide blade, in which are two orifices for securing it to the
shaft.
" There was also found with the above a bronze celt of the
ordinary flat type, with a wide blade, and an early copper celt."
In the neighbourhood of Ennskillen a number of interesting
bronze implements were found about the same time. One, a bronze
dagger blade, measuring 10J inches, and in a perfect state
of preservation, was found in 1886 convenient to Monea Castle.
Another dagger blade of the same class, measuring 6J incheR by t}
at its widest part, was found at Enniskillen in 1887. A very fine
sword was found at Inniskeen by John Ward. It is 23$ incites
in length, and 2 inches in breadth at its widest part. The
hilt was fastened on with five thick rivets, one of which remains in
situ. In the lake between the Convent of Mercy and the back of
Enniskillen was found another sword of pretty much the
same design, but of somewhat smaller dimensions. It has six rivet
holes in the portion formerly surrounded by the handle.
When the officers of the Fermanagh Inquisition weie being
made monarchs of all they surveyed, Portora was included in the
1,000 acres given to Jeremy Lyndsey, under the designation of
Dromskeagh. Pynnar in 1618-19 found the portion of Dromskeagh
of 1,000 acres in the possession of Sir Win. Cole. Portora Castle,
popularly believed to have been a Maguire stronghold, was built by
him. Pynnar describes it as " a bawn of lime and stone 68 feet
square, 13 feet high, with 4 flankers, and a stone house or castle
three stories high, strongly wrought." We feel deeply indebted to
Pynnar for the interesting sketch he has left us of the dwellings,
u8 Devenish : Its History,

manners and customs of those who occupied the planted ground,

and we admire his brigandesque taste in selecting, and his blunt hon
esty in describing, the scenes that most readily lent themselves to
the Plantation scheme ; but we cannot commend his taste in archi
tecture when he describes Portora Castle as strongly wrought, for it
is undoubtedly the worst specimen of Plantation masonry remaining
in Fermanagh. It is at present a shapeless mass of ruins crumb
ling away under every breeze that passes, while other castles, like
Monea, that were roofless before it, have suffered very little from
the storms of the past two centuries.

Poetora Castle and Lough Eene.

The last tenant of Portora Castle was Dr. James Spottiswood,

Bishop of Clogher. " A Breefe Memoriall of the Lyfe and Death of
Dr. James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, in Ireland " (Edinburgh,
1811), gives a quaint account of the manner in which he was
harassed and annoyed by his Enniskillen neighbours during his
residence at Portora. Sir James Balfour (afterwards Lord Balfour
of Clonawley, Co. Fermanagh) conspired with Sir John Wimbles,
the Sheriff, to make Fermanagh too hot for him. During his
absence in Dublin, at a Court function, they stole from Portora 40
or 50 English cows, each value for £$, the property of his son, Sir
Henry Spottiswood. A series of retaliations ensued. On one
occasion the Bishop's servants made a raid on Balfour's pastures,
 Antiquities and Traditions. 119

and drove some cattle to Enniskillen, where they were overtaken by

the united forces of Wimbles and Balfour. In the melee that ensued
the Sheriff was slain. Soon after the Bishop was tried in Dublin
for his participation in the murder. The jury, finding it impossible
to convict him on the evidence, returned their verdict " Ignoramus."
About 1621 he went to reside at Clogher, leaving Portora to his son,

Monea Castle. R. Welch, Photo.

Sir Henry Spottiswood. Until quite recently Bishop Spottiswood's

arms and monogram (J-S.) were to be seen carved on a stone over
the chief entrance. That stone has either been carried away or lies
buried in the debris. A storm in the winter of 1894 blew down a
considerable portion of the ruin ; the remainder cannot long
survive.
120 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

Portora owes much of its modern reputation to the Royal

School, which occupies its summit. Early in the 17th century the
school was established at Lisgool, in accordance with an order made
in the Privy Council in 1608 by James I. By a charter dated 15th
December, 1627, Charles I. granted lands to Archbishop Ussher
and his successors for ever, for the sole and proper use of the Master
of the Free School at Lisgool. Some time about 1660 the school
was removed to the town of Enniskillen, and over one hundred
years later (1777) to Portora Hill. The older portions of the present
school were erected by the Rev. Mark Noble ; the work was com
pleted by the Rev. Dr. Steele, the present worthy Incumbent of
Monea.

Down till very recent times the Crown retained the right of
appointing the Head Master in Portora, the position having been
considered to some extent a sinecure. Among the most noteworthy
of those who held it was Dr. Dunkin, the friend and boon com
panion of Swift and Delaney. In 1737 Dean Swift, endeavouring to
obtain for him an English living, wrote of him, " He is a gentleman
of much wit, and the best English as well as Latin poet in the
kingdom. He is a pious man, highly esteemed." Lord Chester
field, unable to provide for him in England, placed him over the
Royal School of Enniskillen, where he died in 1746. A collection
of his poems and epistles was published in 2 vols, in 1774. It is
now extremely rare.
[Note.— In all the ground plans of the buildings the North is placed towards
the top of the page.]
 DEVENISH CEMETERIES.

ITH mournful feelings the thoughtful visitor

enters the sacred enclosure of the Devenish
cemeteries : with reverential awe he treads
among the lonely graves. The air of calmness,
simplicity and seclusion which reigns about them
harmonises with the solemnity and sentiments
.% of devotion that fill the mind. The stranger
•* sees here no memorial of ancient grandeur,
but he feels that he is standing where monarchs—chieftains of clans;
where bishops and priests, all of whom desired to be laid in the
blessed isle — sleep. He walks, if he is really a thoughtful man,
surrounded by an atmosphere of holy awe ; and he measures his
steps as if the dead beneath him could hear the sound thereof, and
as if it were in his power to disturb their long silent repose. He
breathes not the foul atmosphere of the town -begirt cemetery, fusty
as a mummy case, but the pure fragrant air, " sweet as a draught
of vintage that hath been cooled a long age in the deep delved
earth." The classification and centralization of death in large
cemeteries may have its advantages—like the centralization of
paintings and statuary in an art gallery, but, in presenting us in
one spot with death en masse, it robs other places of the sanctity
with which, when seen in detail, death always invests them. No
more tender connection can be traced between the study and the
tomb, between genius and the country which it had adorned,
between virtue and the home and friends to which it was endeared,
than the old cemeteries furnish ; but in the modern burial place all
is amassed and confounded together in one overwhelming crowd, to
which an unnatural, unmeaning, and often burdensome uniformity
is imparted. In separating the cemetery from the church there is
lost the beautiful connection with the first ages of faith, when the
living met among the dead to pray and join in the sacred
rites. When the church stands in the cemetery we have
around the living a circle of the dead, who, from their silent tombs,
encourage them by telling them of attachment, rest and immortality.
122 Devenish : Its History,

Before entering the church the faithful have an opportunity of

resting their eyes on something that will awaken in their minds a
thought of the shortness of life, a hope of a happier future, a tender
recollection of their relations and friends. These advantages,
which are totally ignored in laying out modern cemeteries, were all
taken into account when the Devenish graveyards were first used.
What the original extent of these cemeteries was, we cannot
say. At present they cover only two small patches to the south
and south-east of the two churches. It is probable that they were
originally much more extensive, for
in the Felire of iEngus, Devenish
is spoken of as "a general cemetery
for the Gaedhil," and in the MS. Life
of Molaise, we are told the Saint
placed some of the clay brought from
the Shrine of the Apostles in the
smaller cemetery on Devenish, and,
"in consequence, great privileges
were attached to it." In Irelan
and we believe on the Continent too,
where the cemetery surrounded
Cross Slab. the church, the favourite place for
burial was on the south-western and western side. It was
customary to erect a monument over each grave, asking a prayer for
its tenant. The people loyally responded to that appeal, and
consequently those interred around the entrance to the church
(nearly always on the western side) came in for the lion's share of
the people's suffrage.1 The Devenish cemeteries do not at present
extend to the doors of the churches on the western side. It is
practically certain that they did so originally.
The graves, like the churches, were all made east and west,
that is, they faced the east from whence came Christianity, and the
Saviour was expected to come from the rising of the sun at the

i Tradition says that the north-eastern portion of the cemetery was relegated to those to
whom, for one reason or another, Christian burial was refused. This was an almost universal
graveyard custom down till recent times. Southey, the quondam Poet Laureate, In order to
combat the custom in Crosthwaite Churchyard, selected his own grave in the abandoned
northern part. In St. Mary's Church, Carlisle, we saw close by the northern gate (the usual
glace for those who came by an untimely end), the monument of the infamous Hatfield, the
etrayer of Mary of Buttermere. It was customary to dig the grave In the northern portion of
cemeteries (relegated to suicides, el hoc genus omnc), at right angles to the other graves. It is to
this custom Shakespere refers when Hamlet bids the grave-diggers cut poor Ophelia's grave
straight.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 123

Judgment Day. The dead, therefore, would face the Saviour at

their resurrection.
The origin of the two cemeteries in Devenish may have arisen
from the older one, around St. Molaise's Church, having been used
in pre-Norman times; whereas, the larger one, around the Abbey
Church, was doubtless more extensively used by the founders of
Saint Mary's Abbey, their contemporaries and successors.
It is hard to find any other reason for the two distinct cemeteries
on Devenish, unless we suppose that here, as in Inismurry, Kin-
Garth (Isle of Bute), and elsewhere, there was one cemetery for
men and another for women. Many of our old monks believed
with Columba that even in death " S' far am bi bean bi 'oh mallacha "—
"where there is a woman there is mischief" (vide Etiam Curzon's
" Monasteries of the Levant ").
A mediaeval funeral in Devenish, if we are to credit tradition, was
a most imposing function. The Annals tell us in a word or two of
the burial of princes and great ecclesiastics : imagination fills in the
picture. The chapel is draped in the sable of death, the funeral
bell sounds overhead, an unbroken hush prevails as if the current
of time had paused to hail the approach of a great event. The
momentary silence is broken by a distant wail, so wild and
indescribable that it seems almost unearthly as it floats in upon the
morning breeze—so far way and indistinct that it is repeated again
and again before you are assured that it is more than mere imagina
tion. From a sort of murmur it rises into full tone, and then dies
away into silence, like an ^Eolian harp, swelling gradually to
strength, and then sinking into the softest cadence. It sounds
upon the waters, its dismal notes are echoed and re-echoed from
shore and lake and mountain. Now it comes nearer : the piercing
wail benumbs you for a while and ceases. The " miserere " takes
its place, and rises solemnly through the aisles, and cloisters,
and floats through the abbey with subduing power. The
imposing procession enters the church, at its head is borne a
crucifix surrounded by tapers of unbleached wax. A magnifi
cent coffin, in barbaric splendour, is surrounded by acholites and
priests and bishops. The place is filled with a sombre and
death-like gloom, well befitting the occasion on which a clan
laments and assembles to lay its chieftain in the tomb. A breathless
pause and the coffin is laid on the bier. Then arise the heart-
touching strains of the funeral service, with its devout De Profundis
124 Devenish: Us History,

chanted by many voices. Echo unites in the dirge of lamentation

and finds a symphonist in every isle and cloister. Many a manly
bosom throbs and heaves with the quick pulsations of grief, and
many a fair face is blanched with streaming tears. We have
seen funerals in Devenish, but how different were they!
Comparatively modern writers treat of the funeral customs of
Devenish in a manner that would lead one to believe that they had
themselves heard the caoine in all its pathetic solemnity on the
waters of Lough Erne. The statement may be a very good easel
to exhibit a piece of word painting upon, but it is nothing more.
The caoine was not heard in the neighbourhood of Devenish within
the memory of the oldest inhabitants.
In these cemeteries are laid the remains of chieftains, bishops,
abbots, and thousands of the humbler laity, but, as we have
already said, no monument of note marks their resting place. 1 1 seems
as if the survivors, almost without exception, believed that praises on
monuments of the dead
" Are trifles vainly spent :
A man's own good name
Is the best monument;"
for some of the oldest gravestones have no inscription whatever.
A few of them are of a very high order of artistic merit, but they
are as silent as the sphinx. Probably those who carved and set them
up, believed that the reputation of those whom they commemorated
was proof against oblivion, and that the merest memorial was
sufficient to transmit their name and fame to posterity.
One of the most remarkable tenants of these cemeteries is
Heber MacMahon, the "warrior bishop" of Clogher. He was
executed in July, 1650, on the little mount south-east of the Castle
Barrack, and opposite Castle Island. His head was spiked on
one of the turrets of the Castle, where it remained for many years,
but his body was interred in Devenish. In what part of the
cemetery he was buried we cannot say. Tradition, it is said, used
to point out his grave somewhere in the neighbourhood of the
great Church, but even tradition has forgotten it now.
He is not the only dismembered warrior who awaits the
resurrection here. Cuconnacht Maguire, the head of the Tempo
branch of the family, mortgaged his estates to raise and maintain a
regiment in the service of King James II. He fought desperately
at Aughrim, where his regiment was cut to pieces, after having
 Antiquities and Traditions. 125

destroyed one of the choicest regiments of the Williamite horse.

Tradition says that he himself was found among the dead by one
of his followers, named Durnian, who cut off his head, and carried
it in a bag to Devenish Island, where he buried it in the tomb of
the Maguires. Decapitations of this kind were not at all unusual.
(See the Annals of Clonmacnoise, under the year 1067). The Four
Masters, recording the death of James Fitzmaurice, say " he ordered
his trusty friends to cut off his head (after his death) in order that
his enemies might not discover him, so as to recognise and mangle
him."

THE INSCRIPTIONS.

Many a Fermanaghman, far from Devenish, will pursue with

interest the following pages, containing an exact copy of all the
inscriptions remaining on the grave stones. We have met Irish-
Americans in these cemeteries looking for the graves of their
ancestors, and we have frequently copied inscriptions for others
who regretted that circumstances prevented their visiting its
hallowed precincts. These at least will appreciate the trouble we
have taken to describe accurately the tombs that remain. Others,
there may be, who have no interest in the past, who believe with
Claudius, that we should enquire what a man is, not who were his
sires. They may sneer at our describing such symbols as those on
the O'Cassidy tomb, but we would remind them that Cicero, in his
Tusculan Disputation, thought it worthy of mention that he had
found, under a covering of thorns and briars, the antique tomb of
Archimedes, bearing a sphere and a cylinder carved upon it.

INSCRIPTIONS ON GRAVE MONUMENTS IN THE CEMETERY ADJOINING

ST. MOLAISE's CHURCH, GIVEN IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER.

Aegan— Here Lyeth | the Body of | Farrell Aegan who | departed

this life I January the twenthynnth, | 1730. | Aged 60
years.
This stone, the Inscription on which Is In raised letters, has the monogram " I.H.S.,"
surmounted by a cross, Immediately under the inscription. The following stones are
marked with the same monogram:—Aegan, Brad, Browning, Cassidy, Forde,
Gallagher, Hackett, Keenan, Kelly, Maguire, McGrath, McManus, McMulchan,
Miner, Flaherty, Reilly, Brady, Magrath, McAlroy, Murry, Seery.
j 26 Devenish: Its History,

Boyd.—" Here lyeth | the Body of | John Boyd wh | o Dyed

January | the 6, 1736. Aged | xxv.
Above lha Inscription Is a small raised cross.

Brad.—Here lies the bo | dy of Patrick Brad | who departed this

this I life May ye 22, 1758. | Aged 32 years. |
Brannon.—Here lieth | the body of Mary | Brennan who |
departed this life | Feb. 3, 1735. | Also ye Body of
I John Brennan who | depart4- April ye 8th, 1736. |
Browning.— Here lieth the Body of | William Browning, | who
departed this | life October the 10th | 1819. Aged 65
years.
Cassidy.—The Reverend Edmond Cassidy | died 1702. | The
Reverend Maurice Cassidy | died July 6 7, 1722.
Aged I 58 years. | The Reverend Phelim Cassidy |
died August 4th, 1735. Aged 57 years. |
Doctor Patrick Cassidy, brother | to the Rev.
Maurice had four sons Henry Phelim Patrick and the
Reverend Andrew Cassidy Pastor of Davunis qui hoc
opus fieri fecit anno Dom., 1744. Then aged 38 years.
Deo Honor et Gloria.
On this stone are cut two hands breaking host over chalice, the whole surmounted by a
crucifix ; on either side the words, " Te Deum laudamus, nienent . mortl.
The O'Cassldys were physicians to the Magulres from 1320 till 1304, when Thomas
O'Cassldy, the last hereditary practitioner of the name, wrote a tract on " The Nature
and Cure of the Different Diseases Incident to the Human Frame." The family gave
many distinguished ecclesiastics to the monasteries around Lough Erno and to the
Clogher Mission. In 1704 the Rev. Edmund Cassidy (aged 35 years) was parish
priest of Devenish, and resided at Aghucheerln. He had been ordained at Down-
Patrick in 1673 by Dr. Key, Bishop of Down and Connor. (A List of Popish Parish
Priests, &c. Dublin, 1703.)

Cassidy. —Patrick Cassidy has three | children interred here |

Margaret Phelim and Catherine. | 1744. |
Cassidy.— Here | lieth | the Bo | dy of | Doctor | Patrick Cassidy
who di I ed September 27, 1720 | Reverendus Pater
Mauri | tius | Cassidy. |
Daugherty.—Here lies ye body | of Owen Daugh | erty who
died Dec. ye | 13th, 1761. Aged 58 years. |
The monogram on this stone Is crushed into the top left-hand corner ; and under the
Inscription are, quaintly cut, a coffin, cross-bones; and a bell.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 127

Forde. —This monument erect* | in memory of the Rev* | Henry

Forde, d.d. and p.p. | of Enniskillen, who | departed
this life the 14th | day of June in the year | of our
Lord 1793. Aged | 45 years. |
By his affectionate sister | Eliz. Meadden. If
unaffected | Piety and a Benevolent | Heart could
insure | a length of days his I numerous friends would
I not have to lament | his Irreparable loss. \
Richard Robert Madden | restored this inscription
I the 14th May 1851. \
Gallagher.— Here lieth | the body of | Hugh Gallaghe | er who
departed | this life November | ye 6, 1756. Aged 71 |
years.
Gallagher, j This stone was erected by | Patrick Gallagher in |
memory of his father | Charles Gallagher who |
departed this life November | the 10th, 1772. Aged
61 years. |
Hoes. — Here | lieth | the Bo | dys of | Mary and Catherine |
Hoes, daughters | to C. H. who dy | ed the | year
1718 and I 1724. Aged 16, 21. |
Grhanger. — Here lieth the | body of Dav | id Greanger who |
departed this | life April the | 22, 1778. Aged | 84
years.
Hackett. —This stone erected by John | Hackett in memory of
his fathr- I William Hackett who departed | this life
Decbr the 7th, 1796. | Aged 48 years. Also his mother
I Honor Hackett who | departed this life 20th July |
1796. Agd. 69 years. And his Brother | James
Hackett who departed | this life 10th May, 1795. |
Aged 14 years.
Keenan. — Here lyeth the Body of | Terence Keenan | who
departed this | Life March the 18th, | 1742. Aged 38
years. Also his children | Denis John | Bridget and
Sarah | Dyed 9 bry, 1740 | Also the Body of | Sarah
Keenan | otherwise married | Wife of Terence Keirnan
who departed | This Life the 23rd July, | 1773 Aged
57 years.
128 Devenish : Its History,

Keenan.—This stone erected by | James Keenan in memory |

of his Father Edward | Keenan of Enniskillen |
merchant whose Body here | lieth and depart" this
life the gth | day of Deer, 1785. Aged 66 years. His
virtues through this life | always rendered him | the
I noblest and best of characters | that of an honest
man. | Also four of his children | Mary Felix Edward
and Sally.
Kelly. — This stone erected by Edward | Kelly of Ennis
killen mercht. | in memory of his 2 daughters |
Catherine Kelly who died Jan. | 1793. Aged 21
years. And Mary Kelly | who died June 23rd, 1793.
Aged 19 years. |
Arms: on a mount two lions rampant, supporting a tower; crest, a grayhound statant ;
floriated chippendale shield with the motto, Turris fortis mihi Deus, on a fluttering
ribbon beneath.

Kelly Arms, 1793.

Kerneghan. —This stone erected by | James Kerreghan for | his

daughter C | who died Feb. 17, | 1774. Aged 17
years.
 Antiquities and Traditions. 129

Kerr. — Erected by Patk. Krr of | Enniskillen in memory | of

his father Cormick | Kerr of Shankill who dept* | this
life Oct. the 6th, 1832. | Aged 76 years. Also his
mother Mary | Kerr who departed this | life April
22nd, 1835. Aged 70 years.
Loughran. —Here lyeth ye body | of James Loughran | who
depart* this life | March ye 17th | 1735. Aged 61
years.
Macalees. —Erected by Jam" | Macalees for his Father | Hugh
Macalees who | departed this life | Feb., 1797. Aged
69 years.
Maguire.— Here lieth the body | of James Maguire | the eighth
son of I Terence FitzHugh | Fitz Philip, who
de I parted this life | the 3rd Oct., 1757. Aged 26
years.
Maguire. — Erected by Hugh | Maguire of Ennis | killen | in
memory | of his father Hugh | Maguire who de | parted
this life I March 27th, 1798. Aged | 65 years.
Maguire. — Erected by Eliza Maguire | in memory of her
husband | Denis Maguire Departed this life Feby. ye
15th 1795. Aged 63. I
Has the monogram " I, H. S." Immediately after the date of death, separating it from
the Latin laudation. Inscription broken away in some places.
+
I. H. S. I
Hoc bonus Hoc Justus | simplex generosus honestus |
Mortuus ecce et meni | ori Dionisius - - - — |
Pauperis Auxilium Maguirse | gloria gentis |
Beneath this stone, Thy bones just Denis lie |
With goodness fraught, fraught with simplicity |
Of poor a friend, the glory of thy name |
Thy generous soul. Thy virtues who can blame |
Maguire. — Erected in memory of the | late Most Rev. Dr.
Dennis Maguire | Catholic Bishop of Dromore | who
was translated to Kilmore | who departed this life on
the 23rd day of December in the year of | Our Lord
1798. Aged 77 years. | During which period he lived |
a most exemplary life with | indefatigable zeal and
charity | to mankind. He was indeed | the good
Shepherd. A true | and real follower of his Master |
and a most affectionate and I sincere friend.
130 Devenish : Its History,

Maguire.—This stone erected by | Captain Dennis | Maguire of

His Imperial | Majesty's service in | memory of his
father | Bryan Maguire late of | Roseheaith who
departed this life November ye 7, | 1790. Aged 72
years.
Maguire. — Here lyeth the body of | Thomas Maguire who
died I May ye 25th, 1772. Aged 74 years. |
Also his daughter Ann died | May, 1772. Agd.
17 years.

Mauuiee Arms.
Arms : upon waves of the sea an ancient three-mast galley, sails set and flags flotant ; in
vase a fish, all facing to the sinister; over the shield a royal crown, surmounted by
the crest; upon a wreath a stag couchant ; mantling pendant from the wreath.
McCaffery. — Here ly | eth the | Bodies | of Ed | mond
McCafery and | his wife Eleinor. he | dyed ye year
1726 I and she | 1732. | Aged—56 & 60. |
McCollin.—Here lyeth | ye body of James | McColline who |
departed this | Life ye 15 October, | 171 8.
A plain raised cross over the inscription.
McCusker.—In memory of j J. A. McCusker | who departed this
life I Dec. 25th, 181 8. | Aged 72 years. | And his
wife I Mary McCusker | who departed this life
Aug. 10, 1832. I Aged 76 years. | Erected by their
affectionate son | John McCusker | of Gartelaughan.
Gartelanghen, on the lake shore opposite Devenish, and in the barony of Tirkennedy,
was in olden times the stronghold of the MacCuskers. The family Is represented there
still.
 Antiquities and Traditions. I31

McCusker. —This stone was cut by Thomas | McCusker for his

wife Catherine | McCusker who died Sept. 29, 1792.
I Aged 61 years. |
McEvoy.—Erected | in memory of his Son | Terence McEvoy |
who departed this life | Feb. 2nd, 1809. Agd 16. |
Also his grandmother | Mary Busby. | James McEvoy
depd I Oct. 21st 1816 I
Magrath. — Here lies ye body of James | Magrath who departed
th I is life I iobr ye i8h 1754. Aged | 54 years. Also
ye body of | Chas. Brady who departed | this life
March ye 30th, 1758. Ag | ed 60 years. |
Magrath.— In memory of Cecily | Magrath who died | Jan, 1769.
Aged 56 years, | by John Magrath. |
McManus. — This burying pla | ce belongeth to | James
McManus | Here lyeth his Gr'- | and child Margaret |
McManus.
McMulchan.— This stone was | erected by John | McMulchan in
mem"7 | of his Fatr Patrick who departed this | Life
ye 23rd Jan17 1 78 1 | Aged 64 yrs. |
Miner. -— Here lyth the | Body of *Mary Miner who | Died
September | 17, 1751. Aged 6 | years.
MacVe. — Erected by Terence MacVe | in memory of Rev |
Michael MacVe who de | ceased August 12th, 1780.
Aged I 56 years. Also the Rev | John MacVe who
deceased | March 12th, 1800. Aged 39 years. |
Terence MacVe died | Feb 7th, 1815. | Aged 94
years | Also his son Patrick MacVe | died March 6th,
1840 I Aged 55 years. |
O'Donnell.— Here lies ye body of John | O'Donnell who died
Nov. I ye 22, 1776. Aged 79 years. | Also ye body
of Margaret | Griffin who died June ye 20, | 1742.
Aged 78 years. Also ye | body of Mary M'Aleher |
who died July ye 5, 1766. | Aged 56 years. |
O'Flaherty. —This stone was erected | by Hugh O'Flaherty |
in memory of his | father mother and | posterity and
also I of his son Edwd | O'Flaherty who was | born
ye 1st of Jany | 1786 and Departed this | life ye 14 of
July, 1792. I Aged 6 years and 6 | months.
132 Devenish: Its History,

O'Flahertv.—Here lieth the body of | Hugh O'Flaherty | who

departed this life | the 2nd day of June, 1798. | Aged
55 years.
Flaherty. — This monument and | burial place belonged | to
Edward Flaherty | and his wife Margaret | Flaherty
of Enniskillen.
Reilly.—Erected in memory of John | Reilly of Enniskillen who
died I August 2a 1757. Aged 30 years |
Arms : two lions combattant supporting a dexter hand, in chief two mullets ; crest upon
a helmet, a griffin's head erased.

O'Reilly Arms, 1757.

Sweeny. — This stone was | erected by Michael | Sweeny in

memory | of his father Jam* | Sweeny who de | parted
this life August | ye 13th, 1801. Aged 75 years. |
Weldon—This mon | ument is erected | by Mr. John | Velden
in memory of | his well-beloved fath | er Mr. Patrick
Velden who dyed | the year | 1684. |
Maguire—This stone erect | ed by John Ma | guire in memory |
of his mother | Jane Gragg who | died December | the
5th, 1774. Aged I 61 years.
A standing stone in the lower church. It has a peculiar design—a heart surmounted by
an H., terminating In a cross. In the north-eastern corner ol the same church are
fragments of another stone bearing date 1789.

Maguire Arms.
 Antiquitus and Traditions. J33

Maguire— Philip Maguire | of | Enniskillen | departed this life |

Decr 13th 1806 I aged 84 yrs. | and | Margaret
Maguire | otherwise Kernan | March 8th 181 1 | aged
74 years. | In their memory | was | this simple
pledge of respect—dedicated | by their Son-in law |
Peter Maguire Doctor of Medecine.
Within the Maguire Mausoleum. Arms built Into wall ; on a chevron between three griffins'
heads erased, as many martlets ; crest, a griffin's head erased as In the arms. The
same arms are repeated on a floriated shield on the eastern wall—two of the martlets
are reversed, and a squire's helmet is Introduced under the crest.
The last descendant of the Princes of Fermanagh interred In this mausoleum was a Miss
Maguire, the daughter of Peter Maguire, M.D., who died about 1865.

Maguire— This stone | was erected by | Philip Maguire |

Enniskillen in memory of | his daughter Sarah
Maguire | who departed this life Oct. the 29, 1781.
Aged 20 years. | Also Margaret Maguire | who
departed this life May | the nth, 1790. Aged 24 years.
Johnston — Here lieth the body of | the Rev. James Johnston
R.C.C. of the parish | of Donaghcavy in the county
of Tyrone | departed this life August 6th, 1798. Aged
53 years. |
Beatty—Erected | by James Beatty of | Doon in memory of
his I Uncle John Bell of | Gortalougharr who |
departed this life 12th | February, 1852. Aged 45 years
I Also in memory of his | Uncle Richard Bell of |
Gourtaloughan who | departed this life 20th |
September, 1867. Aged 82 | years |

the abbey cemetery. »

Brady— Here lyeth | R. E. Brady | Died Nov. | 25, 1725. | Aged

77 I years.
Flanagan — Here lyeth the body of | Nicholas Flanagan who |
departed this life May, | 1763. Aged66years. | Alsohis
son Thomas Flanagan | who departed May 4th, 1765. |
Aged 36 years. | And Nicholas Flanagan who |
departed this life May the 10th, 1796. Aged 69 years. |
I Erected by Thomas Flanagan | Enniskillen.
134 Devenish: Its History, Antiquities and Traditions.

Magrath — This stone was erected | by John Magrath in |

memory of his mother | Anna Magrath alias
Fla | nagan who departed | this life April the 18th,
1778. I Aged 68 years. |
Has a Christ with extended arms, but without a cross.
Maguire — Here lyeth the | Body of Patrick | Maguire who
depd I this life October | the 28th 1782 Aged | 56
years.
Maguire — This stone | is erected by | H. M'G. and his |
posterity in me | mory of Elon | Macguire who |
departed this life | January the 1, in the | year of
1786. Aged 16. I
McAlroy.—God have mercy | on the soul of | Terence McAlroy
I who depd this life | July 30th, 1779. | Aged 36 years.
McGee.—This monument was | erected by Patk Mc | Gee in
memory of | his wife Catherine | who died febry ye
23rd I 1756. Aged 46 years. | Also eight of his |
children.
McGoldric I This stone was | erected by James | McGoldric in
mem | ory of his daughter | Rose, who died Jany. |
1 6, 1 8 16. Aged 19 years. |
McManus.—Here lyeth ye body of | Ann McManus wife | to
Laury McGaharin | who died June 22nd, 1782. |
Age 36 years. |
An angel with extended wings hovering over inscription.
Murphy. — Here lyeth the | Body of Ann | Murphy who |
departed this | life May the 26th | in the year of
1779- I
Murry.—Here lyeth ye body of | Gerald Murry who | died May
ye 14th! 1762. I Aged 65 years.
Centre top, angel with extended wings.
Seery. —Erected by | Edward Seery | to the memory | of his
father Jas. who | died 8th Sept' | 1818. Aged 66
years. | Also to the memory | of his mother | Mary
Seery alies | Boyle who died | 4th April, 1829. | Aged
72 years. |

We are indebted to the Conductors of the Ulster Journal, The Anwleur Photographer, the
Great Northern Railway, Miss M. Stokes, the Royal Irish Academy, and R. Welch, for the use
of a number of Illustrations.
 ENNISKILLEN AND LOUGH ERNE

ilfElL
^^

First Class, recently rebuilt and enlarged, possesses every requisite

for the comfort and convenience of visitors.

■ ♦ <■► ♦«

Commercial and Coffee Rooms.

Billiard and Smoking Rooms.
Ladies' Drawing Rooms.
Private Sitting Rooms.
Large Airy Bed Rooms.
Hot, Cold, and Shower Baths.
Good Cooking and Attendance.
:*. ♦: -♦. :*. *'♦::♦:;

GAZE'S AND GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY CO.'S HOTEL

COUPONS ACCEPTED.

BUS MEETS ALL TRAINS. POSTING.

telegraphic Address-" ROYAL, ENNISKILLEN."

 GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY (IRELAND).

ROYAL MAIL ROUTE

BETWEEN

North of Ireland & England via Kingstown,

/ AND

EXPRESS ROUTE via NORTH WALL.

Direct Service of Trains and Steamers with every comfort and convenience.
Special Messenger in charge of Luggage between London and Kingstown.
FASTEST AND MOST DIRECT SERVICE
BETWEEN

IRELAND AND SCOTLAND via BELFAST,

AND

Mail Serfice Twice every Evening, via Ardrossan and via Greenock.
CHEAP FARES BETWEEN DUBLIN & OTHER STATIONS WITH GLASGOW & EDINBURGH.
The Omnibus runs from the Great Northern Railway Terminus at Belfast, on
arrival of the trains due at 8-50 a.m. (Mondays only) and 6 and 9 p.m. daily, and
conveys passengers, with their personal luggage, for the Scotch Steamers. It
also carries passengers, with their personal luggage, arriving from Scotland by the
Greenock and Ardrossan boats, leaving the Quay about 7 a.m. for this Company's
7-30 a.m. train from Belfast.
Dining, Luncheon, and Breakfast Cars are run on the principal Trains
between Dublin and Belfast, and also through between Belfast and Kingstown
Pier, thus saving all transferring at Dublin.
TOURIST TICKETS are issued at Dublin, Londonderry. Belfast, and the Principal
Great Northern Stations :—
To WARRENPOIN.T, for ROBTREYOR, NEWCASTLE, the MOURNE
MOUNTAINS, and COUNTY DOWN COAST, including Hotel
Accommodation.
„ GREENORE, for CARLINGFORD LOUOH.
„ ENNISKILLEN and BUNDORAN, for LOUGH ERNE, including Hotel
Accommodation .
„ BUNCRANA, ROSAPENNA, DUNFANAGHY, for the DONEGAL
HIGHLANDS, including Hotel Accommodation.
„ DROGHEDA, for the YALLEY OF THE BOYNE.
. „ HOWTH, for HILL OF HOWTH and DUBLIN BAY.
„ MALAHIDE, including Hotel Accommodation.
„ CONNEHARA and KILLARNEY.
„ PORTRUSH for the GIANTS' CAUSEWAY.
Circular Tours have also been arranged, embracing all places of most interest in the country,
and giving a succession of picturesque scenery, and the finest shooting and fishing in Ireland.
The Fares are low, and reductions made when two or more persons travel together.
Tourists travelling by the Great Northern Railway will find their comfort and convenience
studied In every respect.
Passengers landing at Londonderry or Queenstown from the American Steamers can book at
greatly reduced Fares to the principal Stations in Ireland, also to Scotland and England.
To obtain the Company's Time Tables, Illustrated Guides, and Programmes, and full informa
tion as to the Fares, Routes, Excursion Arrangements, &c, apply to the Superintendent of the
Line, Amiens Street Terminus, Dublin.
Dublin, 1897. HENRY PLEWS, General Manager.
Lough Erne Steamboat Co., Ltd.
THK NEW PADDLE STEAMER,
"LADY OF THE LAKE,"
Sails Every Week-day from the 1st .Time to the 30th September, from
Enniskillen (East Bridge Quay), to Cnstlecaldwcll, at 10 a.m., arriving at
12-15 p.m., and Returns from Cast lecald well at 3-15 p m., arriving in Ennis
killen at 5-30 p.m.
CIRCULAR DAY TRIPS OJV LOUGH ERNE
From Bimdoran, Belleeh, and Bally shannon.
Visitors to Bundoran, Ac, will find the following arrangements very convenient for making
a most Enjoyahle Trip through Delightful Scenery at a small cost.

TRAIN AND STEAMER SERVICE.

BUNDORAN Train dep 2-35 p.m. ENNISKILLEN Steamer air. 5-30 p.m.
BALLYSHANNON „ „ 2-45 p.m. Train dep. 6-35 p.m.
BELLEEK „ „ 2-63 p.m. BELLEEK „ „ 8-10 p.m.
OASTLEOALDWELL „ arr. 3-3 p.m. BALLYSHANNON „ „ 8-20 p.m.
,, Steamer dep. 3-15 p.m. BUNDORAN ,, arr. 8-35 p.m.
FARES FOR THE ROUND TRIP-
lst Class and Saloon, 5/6; 2nd Class and Saloon, 3/6; 3rd Class and Fore
Cabin, 2/6.
REFRESHMENTS supplied on board the Steamer at very moderate rates.
For further information apply to the Company's Agent at Enniskillen,
GEO. WADSWORTH; or to
R. S. MOORE, Secretary.
 JAF(S. e. QILLIJSf.

Cabinetmaker, TRpboteterer,
ouse f©upni§hep and (gjndeptakei3.

DRAWING, DINING, AND BEDROOM FURNITURE,

Iron and Brass Beds,
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Ornaments, etc.

PIANOS BY THE BEST MAKERS.

Extensive and Well Selected Stock at Moderate Prices.

REPAIRS NEATLY EXECUTED BY COMPETENT WORKMEN.

THE CABINET WAREHOUSE,

27 TOWNHALL STREET. ENNISKILLEN.

 ENNISKILLEN.

R A I ITW AT M
i!■ M

Ol'POSITE RAILWAY STATION,

RECENTLY ENLARGED AND IMPROVED.

Well Ventilated Bedrooms, KSk.
*A5X Hot and Cold Baths.
Visitors to Lough Erne District will find this Hotel possessed of all
requisites for their Comfort and Convenience.
PETER M'NAMEE, Proprietor.
 A. WGAYCH
Bookseller, Stationer, Hewsaoent,

Toy & Taney Goods Warehouse,

Darling Street,

ENNISKILLEN.
JAMES J. KAVANAGH,
flDercbant ant) Clerical bailor,
WELLINGTON STREET,

ENNISKILLEN.

BOATS! BOATS! BOATS I

Sailing anb IRow Boats
FOR SALE OR HIRE.

F. HUSBANDS, Strand Street,

ENNISKILLEN.
 ^pharmaceutical (^emist,

THE PHAWA©Y.
39 DARLING STREET,

INHISEILLIM,

^prescriptions (^arejully and Jf\ccuralely j2)isper|sed.

MOKE BDT THE BEST AND PUREST DRUGS EMPLOYED.

/Iff articles pertaining to the Drug

Business kept in Stock.

A Large Assortment of Photographic

Materials.
 THE

Oldest and Best Whiskies

AND

CHOICEST WINES
IN THE NORTH OF IRELAND
TO BE HAD AT

H, R, LINDSAY'S,
EJSfNI^tiIL,LRN.
THE
SCOTTISH PROVIDENT
INSTITUTION.
BEAD 0FF1CB-
6 ST. ANDREW 8QUA.RE, EDINBURGH.
(Established 1337.)
MUTUAL ASSURANCE WITH MODERATE PREMIUMS.
The PREMIUMS are so moderate (hat an Assurance of £1 ,200 or £1,250 may generally be
.secured from the first for the yearly payment which usually would be charged (with profits) for
£1,(00 only, the difference being equivalent to an immediate and certain bonus of 20 to 26 per cent.
The WHOLE SURPLUS goes to the Policyholders, on a system at once safe and
-equitable—no share going to those by whose early death there is a long to the common fund.
The SURPLUS at Inst Investigation (1804) amounted to £1,423,018. More than one-half
<>f tho Members who died during the last Septennial period were entitled to Bonuses which,
notwithstanding that the Premiums do not, as a rule, exceed the non-profit ratea of other
Olllcos, were, on the average, equal to an audition of about SO per cent, to the Policies which
participated.
Examples of Premiums for £100 at Death (with Proilts).
Age next Birthday. 30* 35 40 45 50
£2 1 6 £2 6 10 £2 14 9 £3 5 9 £4 17
2 13 0 2 17 U 3 4 6 3 14 0 4 8 7
3 12 1 8 18 0 4 6 8 4 16 2 5 11 8
* A person of 30 may secuie £1,000 at death by a yearly payment during life of
£20 16s, which would generally elsewhere secure (with profits) £800 only ; or he may secure
£1,000 by 25 payments of £26 10s, being thtia free of Premwme before age 55.
THE FUNDS EXCEED £10.000,000.
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Agricultural Instruments,
Kitohen Ranges, Gas and Oil Stoves,
High Pressure and Range Boilers,
Marbled and Enamelled Slate Chimney Pieces,
Electric Bells,
Roompapers,
Cutlery, Electro-Plate, Guns, Revolvers, Cartridges,
Bicycles and Tricycles.

BICYCLE REPAIRS.
Cricket and Lawn Tennis,
Fishing Tackle.
 Enniskillen Brewery.

I. & J. DOWNES ft Co..

BREWERS OF

Bitter an6 jfrale Blee,

NOTED FOR FINE QUALlTY AND
PURlTY OF FLAVOUR.

BOTTLING STOUT
AND

DRAUGHT STOUT
ALWAYS IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.

Anne Street, ENNISKILLEN.

\0\
 ©OX BF?OTHe^S.
Fam//y Grocers*
TEA AND PROVISION MERCHANTS,
BELMORE STREET,

MERCER,
PHOTOGRAPHER AND JEWELLER,

EltlHSKUXEIt.

-JOHJST J. ©OX
Begs to inform his Customers and the Public generally that he is prepared to
offer his Large Stock of Ready-Mades, comprising Men's, Youths', and Boys'
Suits at Lowest Possible Prices ; also a quantity of Men's and Women's Boots
and Shoes, New and Second-Hand, at extremely low figures ; and a supply of
other Goods chiefly made up of Blankets, Quilts, Sheets, Women's and Children's
Wearing Apparel of every description. He also begs to state that in the Jewellery
Department he has a large stock of Ladies' and Gent's Gold and Silver Geneva
and English and American Levers by best makers. Wedding and Keeper Rings
at prices to suit all purchasers.
In his Pawnbroking Office he is prepared to advance liberally on Gold and
Silver Watches, Plate, Jewellery, and every description of Valuable Property.
Strictest privacy observed. Customers sending goods from a distance can rely
upon having full value remitted to them by return of post. Note address—

JOHN J. COX,
Pawnbroker, Jeweller, and Clothier,
ft fWilli SflMt, ill
N.B.—Ready-Hades a Speciality. Men's Suits from 12s 6d. Youths'
Suits from 8s 6d. Boys' Suits from 2s 6d.
 The preservation photocopy
was made and hand bound at BookLab, Inc.
in compliance with copyright law. The paper,
Weyerhaeuser Cougar Opaque Natural,
meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).

(OO)
Austin 1994
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Non-receipt ofoverdue notices does not exempt
the borrowerfrom overdue fines.

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