Columba or Colmcille was an Irish abbot and missionary evangelist credited with spreading Christianity in what is today Scotland at the start of the Hiberno-Scottish mission. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the patron saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Catholic saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
County Meath is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the southwest, Westmeath to the west, Cavan to the northwest, and Monaghan to the north. To the east, Meath also borders the Irish Sea along a narrow strip between the rivers Boyne and Delvin, giving it the second shortest coastline of any county. Meath County Council is the local authority for the county.
Bohermeen is a Roman Catholic parish in the Irish Diocese of Meath. Its English name is a corruption of an ancient Irish language name, An Bóthar Mín, which meant the smooth road. Originally one of the five famed ancient roadways that led from the mediaeval capital of Ireland, Tara, approximately 10 miles away cut through the area. The quality of the roadway, in an era of dirt-roads, earned for it the nickname of the smooth road, An Bóthar Mín.
Trim is a town in County Meath, Ireland. It is situated on the River Boyne and, as of the 2022 census, had a population of 9,563. The town is in a civil parish of the same name.
Kells is a town in County Meath, Ireland. The town lies off the M3 motorway, 16 km (10 mi) from Navan and 65 km (40 mi) from Dublin. Along with other towns in County Meath, it is within the commuter belt for Dublin, and had a population of 6,608 as of the 2022 census. It is best known as the site of Kells Abbey, from which the Book of Kells takes its name. The town is in a civil parish of the same name.
The early medieval history of Ireland, often referred to as Early Christian Ireland, spans the 5th to 8th centuries, from the gradual emergence out of the protohistoric period to the beginning of the Viking Age. The period includes the Hiberno-Scottish mission of Christianised Ireland to regions of pagan Great Britain and the spread of Irish cultural influence to Continental Europe.
Kilfenora is a village and a civil parish in County Clare, Ireland. It is situated south of the karst limestone region known as the Burren. Since medieval times when it was the episcopal see of the Bishop of Kilfenora, it has been known as the "City of the Crosses" for its seven high crosses. The village had around 220 inhabitants in 2011. Much of the TV show Father Ted (1995–98) was filmed there.
Nobber is a village in north County Meath, Ireland. It is on the Navan–Kingscourt road (R162), about 19 kilometres (12 mi) north of Navan. This places the village about 60 kilometres (37 mi) from the M50 motorway, the orbital motorway of Dublin. The village is in a townland and civil parish of the same name.
The Abbey of Kells is a former monastery in Kells, County Meath, Ireland, 59 kilometres (37 mi) north-west of Dublin. It was founded in the early 9th century, and the Book of Kells was kept there during the later medieval and early modern periods before finally leaving the abbey in the 1650s. Much of the Book of Kells may have been created there, but historians cannot be certain of the exact date and circumstances of its creation.
Finnian of Clonard – also Finian, Fionán or Fionnán in Irish; or Finianus and Finanus in its Latinised form (470–549) – was one of the early Irish monastic saints, who founded Clonard Abbey in modern-day County Meath. The Twelve Apostles of Ireland studied under him. Finnian of Clonard is considered one of the fathers of Irish monasticism.
Kells Priory is one of the largest medieval monuments in Ireland. The Augustine priory is situated alongside King's River beside the village of Kells in the townland of Rathduff (Madden), about 15 km south of the medieval city of Kilkenny. The priory is a National Monument and is in the guardianship of the Office of Public Works. One of its most notable features is a collection of medieval tower houses spaced at intervals along and within walls which enclose a site of just over 3 acres (12,000 m2). These give the priory the appearance more of a fortress than of a place of worship and from them comes its local name of "Seven Castles".
The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.
Saint Manchán mac Silláin, Manchianus in Latin sources, is the name of an early Irish saint, patron of Liath Mancháin, now Lemanaghan, in County Offaly. He is not to be confused with the scholar Manchán or Manchéne, abbot of Min Droichit . There are variant traditions concerning the saint's pedigree, possibly owing to confusion with one of several churchmen named Manchán or Mainchín. The most reliable genealogy makes him a son of Sillán son of Conall, who is said be a descendant of Rudraige Mór of Ulster, and names his mother Mella.
Drumlane is a townland situated near the village of Milltown, area 85.76 hectares, in County Cavan, Ireland. Drumlane is also the name of the civil parish in which the townland is situated. Saint Columba brought Christianity to Drumlane in 555, and Saint Máedóc of Ferns was the founder of an early Drumlane monastery. Saint Máedóc made the Connachta nobleman Faircheallaigh the first Abbot of Drumlane at the end of the sixth century and his Ó Faircheallaigh descendants became historically the Erenagh Abbots of Drumlane. The name Drumlane denotes the drumlin region of low hilly ribbed moraines formed over a limestone bedrock created by the movement of glacial ice and melt water during the last ice age. Several townlands in the neighbourhood are prefixed with the word 'Drum' ('Droim'), while several others are prefixed with the word 'Derry' ('Doire'), which is Irish for oak.
The Kells crozier or British Museum Crozier is an early medieval Irish Insular crozier. It is often known as the "Kells Crozier", indicating an associating with the Abbey of Kells, although no evidence of this exists, and most historians accept that it is of uncertain providence. The crozier is fully intact, although some of the ornamentation is in poor condition.
Skryne Church is a ruined medieval church and National Monument in County Meath, Ireland.
St. Mochta's House is a medieval oratory and National Monument in County Louth, Ireland.
Crossakiel or Crossakeel is a village in County Meath, Ireland. It is situated in the north-west of the county, at the junction of the R154 and the L2801, approximately 13 km south of Oldcastle and 12 km north of Athboy.
House-shaped shrine are early medieval portable metal reliquary formed in the shape of the roof of a rectangular building. They originate from both Ireland and Scotland and mostly date from the 8th or 9th centuries. Typical example consist of a wooden core covered with silver and copper alloy plates, and were built to hold relics of saints or martyrs from the early Church era; a number held corporeal remains when found in the modern period, presumably they were parts of the saint's body. Others, including the Breac Maodhóg, held manuscripts associated with the commemorated saint. Like many Insular shrines, they were heavily reworked and embellished in the centuries following their initial construction, often with metal adornments or figures influenced by Romanesque sculpture.
Saint Bécán was an Irish monk who founded a monastery at Kilbeggan and is considered by some to be one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. His feast day is 5 April.
