Carnaross or Carnaros () is a village in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, approximately 4 km northwest of Kells on the

R147 road The R147 is a regional road in Ireland. Its first section runs from St Peters Church in Phibsborough, Dublin to its junction with the M50. It then follows the route of a former section of the N3 between Clonee and Kells. It serves as an altern ...

between Kells and

Virginia, County Cavan Virginia () is a town in County Cavan, Ireland. Founded in the 17th century as a plantation town, it now holds both local industry and commuter housing. History Foundation Virginia was founded in the early 17th century, at Aghanure (), during ...

Etymology

Carnaross is an

anglicisation Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

''Carn na Ros'', meaning "cairn of the woods" or "rock of the woods". Specifically, ''carn'' is believed to refer to a local

cairn A cairn is a man-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the gd, càrn (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehis ...

; an ancient

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

burial site Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

or heap of stones over a grave. Evidence for such a burial site may exist nearby in a farmers field. Known as Keim the churchyard, this site contains an ogham inscribed stone which was discovered in 2006. Other sources suggest that ''carn'' is derived from ''carraig'', the Irish for stone or rock. Separately, ''ros'' is believed to refer to a hill or promontory covered with trees or brushwood.

History

Parish

The parish of Carnaross is composed of the three mediaeval parishes of Castle Kieran, Loughan and Dulane. Carnaross is not mentioned as a townland earlier than 1837, and even then John O'Donovan in the Ordnance Survey Field Name Books, refers to it as "a group of houses (two of them public houses) called Carnaross". A number of sources record

holy well A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its gua ...

s in the area, including one dedicated to

Saint Anne According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come o ...

Former constituent parishes

Loghan

One of the former constituent parishes, Loghan or Loughan, is described by Samuel Lewis in his 1837 ''

Topographical Dictionary of Ireland Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

'' as being: :''a parish, partly in the barony of Castlerahan, county of Cavan, and province of Ulster, but chiefly in the barony of Upper Kells, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 4 miles (N. W.) from Kells, on the road from Dublin by Kells to Enniskillen; containing 3795 inhabitants, of which number, 339 are in the village of Loghan.'' Lewis notes that there was then a private school (with 60 pupils) at Carnaross, and the remains small church close to the which was dedicated to

Saint Kieran In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Catholic, Eastern Ortho ...

Dulane

Lewis (1837) also has an entry for the parish of Duleen or Dulane, which is also described as being the barony of Upper Kells "''on the road to Moynalty; containing 1503 inhabitants"''. He notes that the "''land is generally of good quality; and the system of agriculture is improved''" with "''sufficient quantity of bog for fuel''" A private school of 50 children is recorded, with a number of ancient crosses in the local churchyard. ''The Diocese of Meath : Ancient and Modern'', published in 1862 by Anthony Cogan, describes the church at Dulane as being at least partly ruined and having "''every appearance of antiquity''". The area is recorded as being the ancient site of an abbey of Tuilen, or Tulan, founded by Saint Ciaran in the sixth century.

Castlekeiran

Castlekeiran is also described in ''The Diocese of Meath : Ancient and modern'' (Cogan, 1862): :''Castlekeiran, a village, in the parish of Loghan, barony of Upper Kells, county of Meath, and province of Leinster, 2 ½ miles (W. N. W.) from Kells; containing 24 houses and 162 inhabitants.'' :''Castlekeiran is called sometimes hter-Chiarain. This place was anciently called Bealaigh-duin, " the Road or Pass of the Fort". A monastery was founded here on the southern bank of the Abhainn-Sele, or Blackwater, by Saint Ciaran, which was called Diseart Chiarain-Bealaigh-duin.''

Ogham stone

An Ogham stone, found in Keim Churchyard has an inscription which reads "COVAGNI MAQI MUCOI LUGUNI". This translates from

ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

as: ''Cuana son of the people of Lugh''. The tribes of the Gaileanga and Luighne occupied these territories anciently, with Cuana, Maelan, Mac Maelan and Leochain or Loughan cited as a chiefly names amongst notices for these Luighne and Gaileanga. Cuana is linked with the ancient battle of Belach-Duinn (Castlekeiran).

Annalistic references

The

Annals of the Four Masters The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...

have the following notices relating to Carnaross : :''770. Ciaran,* the Pious, of Bealach-dain, died on 14 June.'' :''855. Siadhal, Abbot of -Chiarain (Castlekieran), died.'' :''868. Comsudh, Abbot of -Chiarain, of Bealach-duin, died.'' :''949. Castlekieran was plundered by the Danes.'' :''961. Dubhthach, Abbot of Castlekieran, died.''

Notable buildings

A former Church of Ireland building on the R147, constructed from sheet metal in the 19th century, is one of the more unusual features of Carnaross. This church, known as the "Iron Church", fell into disuse in the 1970s but was subsequently purchased by a family from Collon, County Louth and used as an independent evangelical place of worship. Carnaross is home to a cattle mart. The mart held Ireland's first virtual mart during the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020.

References

External links

* * {{County Meath Towns and villages in County Meath