A Monumental Guide to Ferns, Co. Wexford Christiaan Corlett
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A Monumental Guide to Ferns, Co. Wexford Christiaan Corlett Text by Christiaan Corlett Images by Christiaan Corlett, courtesy of Culture Stock Design and layout by Christiaan Corlett Published by Coles Lane, 2020 This publication is available to download at www.coleslane.com Coles Lane CONTENTS Introduction 1 St Aidan 2 Early ecclesiastical history of Ferns 4 The rise of the Uí Chennselaig 5 Medieval Ferns 7 St Mary’s Abbey 13 The cathedral 15 Effigy of John St John or St Aidan? 17 Stone crosses 18 The chapel 20 St Aidan’s Well 21 St Peter’s Church 22 Ferns Castle 23 INTRODUCTION Ferns in north Wexford takes its name from the Irish word fearna, meaning ‘place of the alder trees’. This area was part of the ancient territory of Uí Chennselaig, which comprised much of the southeast of the country, including modern-day county Wexford and neighbouring parts of Carlow and Wicklow. The reason why Ferns would become the regional epicentre of both ecclesiastical and secular power is unclear. It is not located at a strategic point in the landscape already made defensible by the natural topography, such as a hilltop. There is no navigable river at Ferns with an important crossing that might need to protection. Nor is it located be- side the sea where it could develop as a port. Yet, it was here that St Aidan, also known as Máedhóg, founded one of his most famous churches at the turn of the 7th century. Apparently, the land was given to Aidan by a local king. Perhaps the political importance of Ferns evolved as a result of St Aidan’s monastery being located here, or maybe he established his church here because it was already the royal seat of the local king. The answer to these questions is unclear, but we do know that Ferns would become one of the most important religious and political sites in the southeast of Ireland. 1 ST AIDAN The importance of Ferns goes back to at least the turn of the 7th century when the first church was founded here by St Aidan, also known as St Máedhóg, who died in 624. He was born on the island of Port on Brackley Lough, close to Drumlane, Co. Cavan. Much of the information recorded about Aidan survives as stories or accounts known as the Lives that were probably first written down in the late 12th century. Some of the ac- counts were written later in the medieval period. No doubt some stories are very old, but they have been shaped over the centuries and it is difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. According to one story, Aidan travelled as a young man to Wales, where he was tutored by the patron saint of Wales, St David. While in Wales, he is said to have cured many people of their ailments, including a son of the king of the Britons in Wales who was blind, deaf and lame. At the behest of St David, Aidan also reputedly blessed an army of Britons before they successful- ly repelled an invading force of Saxons. When he subsequently returned to Ireland he walked across the sea from wave to wave until he reached the Wexford coast. He soon met the local king of Uí Chennselaig. A short while later the king took ill and in his dreams he was saved from the jaws of a fierce beast by Aidan with his staff. When the king awoke he gave land at Ferns to Aidan to build a ‘noble church’. Aidan soon became regarded as the patron saint and protector of the Uí Chennselaig, and in one story, when an army invaded the region, the saint drew a line with his bachall (staff) around the army of the Lein- ster king Brandubh, son of Eochaid. The invading army stopped at the line, except one chief who crossed it and died immediately. The rest of the army turned around and left the battlefield for home. Some years later, while Aidan was away, king Brandubh (d. 605) was slain in another battle. Aidan re- turned to Ferns and went straight to the king’s grave and brought him back to life to hear his confession so that he could go to heaven. One of the purposes of this story was to demonstrate that Ferns, since its foundation, had been the burial place of kings of the regions; kings who would one day rule Leinster. 2 According to one of the Lives of St Aidan, he visited Rome where he received two gifts at the altar of St Peter, one being his brec and the other being the staff of Brandubh, named after the king Brandubh that Aidan reputedly brought back to life so that he could receive the last rites. Shortly before his death in 624, Aidan is reputed to have bequeathed the staff of Brandubh to Ferns, where he was also reputedly buried. Unfortunately, the staff of Brandudh no longer survives, but the so-called ‘brec’ is almost certainly the Breac Maodhóg (the speckled or var- iegated shrine of St Maodhóg, i.e. St Aidan), which can today be found on display at the Na- tional Museum of Ireland in Dublin. This shrine comprises a house-shaped reliquary, probably made in the late-11th century, and is associated with St Aidan’s church at Drumlane, Co. Cavan. The staff of Brandubh, probably a simple wooden staff, was probably contained in a similarly ornate reliquary of gold, silver and enamel. It was likely kept at Ferns in a church or reliquary chapel for centuries after his death. Such reliquaries were important to attract pilgrims who came to Ferns in order to see Aidan’s grave and a holy object that once belonged to one of the most revered saints in the region. As a link to a glorious past, the staff of Brandubh would have been especially important to the Uí Chennselaig and their kings. The Breac Maodhóg (speckled or variegated shrine of St Maodhóg) on display at the National Museum of Ireland. 3 EARLY ECCLESIASTICAL HSTORY OF FERNS After the death of St Aidan in 624, the annals record the death of several subsequent abbots and bishops of Ferns, reflecting the fact that the church here served multiple ecclesiastical functions during the early medieval period, prior to the establishment of parishes and dioceses. Ferns was plundered by the Vikings in 834, some years before they established a settlement at Loch Garman at the mouth of the River Slaney, the precursor of the modern town of Wex- ford, which derives from the Norse Waesfiord, meaning a broad shallow bay. The new Viking settlers continued to develop the town of Wexford over the following centuries and controlled much of the hinterland. Their presence in the region would be highly significant and was most likely tolerated by the local Gaelic tribes, who were quick to capitalise on the military and naval power of their new neighbours, as well as the trade links that they provided with much of the outside world. While the Viking attack on Ferns in 834 may have been purely aimed at ransacking a wealthy church in search of valuables and slaves, subsequent Viking attacks on Ferns in 917 and 928 may have been more politically motivated. It is not recorded if the Vikings who attacked Ferns on these occasions were from Wexford, or perhaps from further afield, such as Dublin. Throughout this period, many Gaelic kings hired Viking mercenaries to attack the important churches and secular power bases of their enemies. As the seat of both ec- clesiastical and secular power in the kingdom of Uí Chennselaig, Ferns was the obvious target of outside kings who wished to subordinate the rulers of this region. The beginning of the 12th century saw the influence of church reforms that were sweeping throughout Europe. In particular, these changes saw the creation of a new diocesan system of organisation, which in turn saw the creation of new parishes across the country. In 1111, at a synod that saw the first formal agreement of a dioce- san structure across the entire country, Ferns became one of five episcopal sees in the province of Leinster. There can be no doubt that this was in large part due to the fact that Ferns was also the seat of the Uí Chennselaig who dominated the secular politics in the region. Now as the seat of a diocese, Ferns also dominated the ecclesias- tical politics of the region, and with this new status and authority, it seems certain that the early bishops sought to express this with the construction of new churches, or the embellishment of existing ones. 4 THE RISE OF THE UÍ CHENNSELAIG The infamous Battle of Clontarf near Dublin in 1014 had left a power vacuum in Leinster. This resulted in the rise of the Uí Chennselaig, who had been previously constrained to modern-day Wexford. The most successful of the new Uí Chennselaig kings was Diarmaid mac Máel na mBó (d. 1072). The Uí Chennselaig were previously a minor family in Leinster politics, but now became a major family on the national stage as Diarmaid mac Máel na mBó sought the prestigious title of high-king of Ireland. Diarmaid mac Máel na mBó fell short of achieving his ambition as high-king. He did, howev- er, have a role to play in England’s equivalent of the Battle of Clontarf, the Battle of Hastings (1066), when he gave refuge to the sons of Harold Godwinson, the Norse king of England, in the aftermath of his defeat at the hands of William the Conqueror during the Norman con- quest of England.