Saturday 21 June Visit to Westmeath and Fore with Rory Masterson. Depart Tullamore at 10. a.m. Car sharing from Bury Quay let us know your needs.

St. Féichín’s Church by Rory Masterson, our guide

The walk will consist of a walk to St. Féichín’s church that was the church of the old monastery founded in the seventh century. 

The Anchorite’s Cell

This will be followed by a visit to the Anchorites Cell. Anchorites were hermits who enclosed themselves in a cell for the rest of their lives in order to attain greater sanctity. The last recorded anchorite was at Fore in the closing decades of the seventeenth century.  I am hoping to get the keys so that we can get access to the cell. 

The North Gate

After the coming of the Anglo-Normans, Fore became a chartered borough. In the 15^th century the borough came under attack from the neighbouring Gaelic Clans the O’Reillys and O’Farrells. So it received a murage grant to enable it to charge a tax on all good coming and leaving the town to cover the cost of building town defences

St. Feíchín’s Mill

Dating from the time of the early monastery founded by St. Féichín the mill is referenced at still in operation when the Normans arrived and is mentioned by Gerald of Wales in one of his stories The mill, like the church was an area that women were forbidden to enter as referenced by Gerald of Wales in the thirteenth century.

The Benedictine Priory

The large Benedictine priory of Fore that as commented by many looks more like a fortress than a monastery. Founded by Hugh de Lacy before his death in 1186 (at Durrow in Offaly) i’’s mother house was in Normandy in France.  It was richly endowed by de Lacy but fell on hard times during the hundred years war.  During that era England and France began to see themselves as separate (though most English nobility and kings continued to speak French as their everyday language until the end of the fifteenth century) as so the Benedictine priory came to be seen as ‘alien property’.  As a result the monastery was taken into royal custody during the war and drained of as much of its resources as possible. 

In the fifteenth century the priory was run down and with the Gaelic resurgence a change of government policy occurred. Instead of seeing the priory as French property they now came to see it as vital for the defence of the Pale from the Gaelic Irish.  The priory was granted to a series of loyal local Anglo-Normans who seem to be responsible for the addition of the two towers to the priory. In fact the priory became a fortress cum monastery with both sharing the same space. The priory was dissolved in 1539   

St. Féichín, the founder of the Gaelic monastery at  Fore, Co. Westmeath, was born in Billa, in the townland of Collooney in Co. Sligo.  A student of St. Nathí of Ardconry he is associated with a number of foundations in the west of Ireland, including Cong in Mayo, Omey and High Island in Galway as well as Termonfeckin in Co. Louth.  However, Fore in Westmeath is considered as his most successful establishment.  He is said to have died in 665 of the Yellow Plague or Buidhe Chonnail.  While we cannot be certain what the disease  was it is reputed to have lasted for almost ten years and was followed by leprosy.  The name ‘Yellow’ suggests that it was some form of jaundice.  Three ‘lives’ of St. Féichín have come down to us, one in Latin and two in Irish.  In addition we have Colgan’s commingled Latin life of the seventeenth century.  Lives of the Irish saints were not historical biographies of the saint in question actual life.  Written long after the subject under discussion had died, their purpose was to promote the sanctity of the founder as his or her value as a saint to venerate. Details of relics of the saint, real or fabricated, which the monastery retained, were interwoven into the saint’s live to demonstrate their powers.

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