Clonard ()A. D. Mills, 2003, ''A Dictionary of British Place-Names'', Oxford University Press is a small 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 ...

. It lies on the R148 regional road between the towns of

Kinnegad Kinnegad or Kinagad () is a town in County Westmeath, Ireland. It is on the border with County Meath, near the junction of the M6 and the M4 motorways - two of Ireland's main east–west roads. It is roughly 60 km from the capital, Dublin ...

and

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

. This road was the main road between

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

until the construction of the

M4 motorway The M4, originally the London-South Wales Motorway, is a motorway in the United Kingdom running from west London to southwest Wales. The English section to the Severn Bridge was constructed between 1961 and 1971; the Welsh element was largely ...

. It is still used by traffic avoiding the toll on the M4. Clonard Motte Hugh de Lacy 2007 08 26

Clonard is notable for being one of the earliest Christian sites in Ireland, being linked with the first Irish bishop Palladius c. 450 and as the location of a major early medieval monastery

Clonard Abbey Clonard Abbey (Irish, ''Cluain Eraird'', or ''Cluain Iraird'', "Erard's Meadow") was an early medieval monastery situated on the River Boyne in Clonard, County Meath, Ireland. Early history The monastery was founded in about 520 by Saint F ...

, founded in the 6th century by St. Finnian. Around 1177,

Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, 4th Baron Lacy (; before 1135 – 25 July 1186), was an Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder. He had substantial land holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Following his participation in the Norman Inva ...

, built a

motte-and-bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

fortification at Clonard. The village contains a Catholic church, a graveyard and a primary school. It is served by

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

services to

and West of Ireland.

References

External links

Official Meath Tourism website

Unofficial village site
{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Meath

See also

References

External links