Grangefertagh is a former

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

located in County Kilkenny,

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 is today a National Monument.

Location

Grangefertagh is located about north of

Johnstown, County Kilkenny Johnstown (), historically known as Coorthafooka ( gle, Cúirt an Phúca), is a small town in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Bypassed in December 2008 by the M8, the town lies at the junction of the R639, the R502 and the R435 regional roads. It ...

, near a crossing-point on the River Goul.

History

Grangefertagh was founded in the sixth century AD by Saint Ciarán of Saigir, and known as Fearta-Cáerach ("Sheep's Tomb"). In 861

Cerball mac Dúnlainge Cerball mac Dúnlainge (patronymic sometimes spelled ''Dúngaile'', ) (died 888) was king of Ossory in south-east Ireland. The kingdom of Ossory (''Osraige'') occupied roughly the area of modern County Kilkenny and western County Laois and lay b ...

killed a host of

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

at Fertagh, taking forty heads. A

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and fu ...

was later built. In 1156 the high king

Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn Muircheartach Mac Lochlainn (old spelling: Muirchertach mac Lochlainn, IPA: �mˠɪɾʲəçəɾˠt̪ˠəxmˠəkˈlɔxlən̪ʲ was king of Tír Eoghain, and High King of Ireland from around 1156 until his death in 1166. He succeeded Toirdheal ...

burned the tower with the

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses. ...

inside. The monastery was reopened by the de Blancheville family for the Canons Regular of St Augustine in the early 13th century. In 1421 it was so destroyed and desolated that its religious could not 'remain therein, but must wander about and beg their daily bread' but in 1455 it was rebuilt by Thady Megirid/Magriyd, a canon of Inchmacnerin. The monastery was dissolved in 1541 but the church of was in use until 1780 and now forms part of a Gaelic handball alley.

Buildings

Round tower

The tower is tall. It has nine windows: six angle-headed and three lintelled. Four of the angle-headed windows are on the top storey facing the four

cardinal directions The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the four main compass directions: north, east, south, and west, commonly denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. Relative to north, the directions east, south, and west are at ...

. The tower is complete to the cornice but only part of the cap remains. The doorway faces northeast and is above the ground. Sometime before 1800, a local farmer removed some stones from the original doorcase because he believed that they had magical fire-resistant properties. The doorway as it appears now is a later repair job. Fertagh 2021 (19)

Church

There is an Augustinian monastery church (13th century) west of the tower. A side chapel contains a 16th century tomb said by Carrigan to be that of Seán Mac Giolla Phádraig,

King of Osraige The kings of Osraige (alternately spelled ''Osraighe'' and Anglicised as ''Ossory'') reigned over the medieval Irish kingdom of Osraige from the first or second century AD until the late twelfth century. Osraige was a semi-provincial kingdom in s ...

. The tomb has

effigies An effigy is an often life-size sculptural representation of a specific person, or a prototypical figure. The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certai ...

of a man in armour and a woman, said to be Seán’s wife Nóirín Ní Mórdha. Carrigan claimed other members of the

Mac Giolla Phádraig dynasty ''Mac Giolla Phádraig'' () (alternately ''Mac Gilla Pátraic'') is a native Irish dynastic surname which translates into English as ''"Son of the Devotee of (St.) Patrick"''. In the medieval period, the Mac Giolla Phádraigs were hereditary k ...

also rest there. The chest is decorated with

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

and lierne vaulting in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

. A 2020 article reviews various unusual aspects of the tomb that scholars, including Carrigan, have found make it an exception compared with other similar tombs built by Ormond sculptors.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Megalithic Ireland page on GrangefertaghThe Fitzpatrick – Mac Giolla Phádraig Clan SocietyThe Fitzpatrick Clan Society
Augustinian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Archaeological sites in County Kilkenny National Monuments in County Kilkenny Religion in County Kilkenny Monasteries dissolved under the Irish Reformation FitzPatrick dynasty