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 Saint Luchtigern or Luchticern, son of Cutrito, lived during the early sixth century. Hewas founder of the monastery beside Finnlough Lake, approx. 5 kilometres south-east of Quin village.The Irish name of this area is Tuaim-Fionnlocha, the Tomb of the Fair Lake, as recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters:-

A.D. 944. Scannlán Abb Tuama Fionnlocha decc, i.e., Scannlan Abbot of Tuaim Fionnlocha, died.

As is so often the case with early Celtic monks, they located their church in a place of quiet beauty. Fionn Lough, is the dominant feature in the immediate area.  

The monastic church stands back a short distance from the lakeshore.This area is one of the old ‘seven parishes’ of Newmarket on Fergus.

The church, now sadly in poor repair, shows evidence of three separate building phases. Large blocks of masonry around the door on the south side, represent the earliest phase, and date to between the tenth and the twelfth century.

.During the Anglo-Norman occupation of the area in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, the church was restored and some fine cut-sandstone windows were inserted into the south wall and east gable.

In the fifteenth century, the triple light east window was blocked up and a double light trefoil-pointed limestone window was inserted.

Note that on the closed-off twin window in the south gable with molding shown here on the left, there is evidence of the use of red sandstone

A stone, known locally as the ‘Plague stone’ or the ‘Cholera stone,’ is located on the outside of the graveyard perimeter wall (suggesting more extensive monastic grounds in the past). An old story tells that a woman suffering from the plagues came to Luchtigern one day and he prayed over her placing his hands on her suppurations. He cast all evidence of illness from her into a large stone. The stone has two raised circles, one with an inner circle and the second has the shape of a cross. They are said to imitate the pustules that appear on the skin when afflicted by the plague. Saint Luctigern is said to have endowed the stone with curative powers against disease.Thereafter people came to the stone for cure of ailments.

During their visit to Fenloe in 1839 the Ordnance Surveyors, O’ Donovan and Curry recorded the following:

‘The stone at which the miracle was performed was from thenceforward called “The Plague Stone” the name by which it is known to this day. The plague did not on that occasion make its further appearance within the distance of two miles at any side of Toomfinlough, nor has it done so ever since, for even during the late terrible ravages of the Cholera a single case of it did not occur within the above distance of this plague stone. This is asserted to have been the fact, whatever might have been the cause.

On that occasion people crowded in thousands to perform rounds, etc., at the plague stone, but whether its protective influence extended beyond the limits of its Termon or not, it would be very difficult to ascertain.’   (Ordnance Survey Letters by John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry, Parish of Tomfinlough, 1839).

The Plague Stone

Luctigern's three disciples

There are three Romanesque carved heads in the cemetery, said to represent Luchtigern’s disciples. A close examination of the middle head offers a clue to hair fashions in the fifteenth century. One is of limestone and two of sandstone, inserted into the south-eastern corner of the perimeter wall. These heads were originally placed over the lintel of a doorway in a small oratory that stood close to the church. This survived into the nineteenth century, as referenced by TJ Westropp. 

The heads are closely associated with the Plague Stone story. When Luctigern challenged his three disciples about his miraculous healing gift and cure of the woman with the plague, only one monk fully accepted it. He is now represented by the intact head on the wall – the other two eroded heads signify the doubters. 

An indication of how long the Fenloe site has been in use is seen in its graveyard. Here lie hundreds of stones placed at the head and the foot of the graves, without inscriptions.  Inscribed headstones did not come into popular use before the end of 17th century, much later in many places, so one can presume that many Fenloe graves are pre-17th century.

An old practice at Fenloe continues from an earlier era. When a coffin reaches the graveyard it is not carried directly to its final resting place. Instead, the bearers enter through the main gate and then exit at once through the side gate to the west. They move up the field about 60 metres where a coffin rest allows the coffin to be placed. It is then received into the graveyard from across the wall. There are all kinds of explanation for this – a tradition from the days when coffins were shouldered to graveyards, to avoid financial costs, to avoid moving in straight lines with the dead, to not rush the final journey. Whatever the explanation, it’s a venerable custom still maintained.

It is mentioned briefly in the National Folklore Collection in 1937: “When a corpse is to be buried in Fenloe Graveyard, they carry the coffin into the graveyard over the “steps” and not through the gate.” (The Schools’ Collection, James Clune, Clooney School, Volume 0593, Page 462).

Fenlo Graveyard
Fenlo Coffin Rest

There is a Holy Well at the front of the Fenloe site. It is in two parts – the first is a basin well or bullaun that is now inserted in the wall. Below it is a spring, contained in a grotto-like structure, refurbished by locals in 1959. Both water sources are still much visited. They permit the visitors to take some of the graces of Fenloe home with them.

 

Footnote: Fenloe is both an ancient and fascinating site.  During high winds on the 10th January 2007, the east gable of Fenloe fell.It still lies on the ground. Age is now greatly undermining the church and it is in urgent need of attention. Recent attempts to determine who might attend to repairs have proven fruitless. It would be an enormous cultural loss to the local and national community if it were not preserved.

References: Ryan, William Gerrard (1980). “Tomfinlough Parish”. A Survey of Monuments of Archaeological and Historical Interest in the Barony of Bunratty Lower, Co. Clare. Clare County Library.

Aiden Harrington, Fenloe Church and Graveyard – a layperson’s guide.https://heritage.clareheritage.org/places/reading-your-local-landscape/kilkishen-our-local-landscape/fenloe-church-and-graveyard-a-laypersons-guide

What did the Anglo Normans ever do for us?

We are well aware of the impact of the Anglo-Norman invasion on our history, the undermining of Gaelic society and the replacement of our native structures. Poor old Diarmuid MacMurrough takes a lot of blame for all of this, despite the fact that Henry II in England had already sought and had been given approval by Pope Adrian to invade and civilise us. Henry was just waiting to finish his war in France before sorting us out!

Anyway, in they came, conquered, settled, married and eventually becoming more Irish than even ourselves, ‘níos gaelaí ná na Gaeil féin’! But besides building towns and castles, robbing our women (and probably taking our jobs!), what did the Anglo-Normans do for us – if anything?

Well, for one, they gave us a whole new suite of names, both forename and surname, to choose from.

The Norman influence on Irish surnames

Following the invasion of 1169, a large number of Anglo-French first and last names entered into Ireland. Many, such as Power, Browne, Fleming, Joyce, Burke, Barry, Costello, Nagle, Nugent, D’arcy, Roche and Walsh/Welsh/Wallace, are nowadays considered Irish and are commonly found in Clare. So, too, are those with the Fitz prefix such as Fitzmaurice, Fitzgerald, Fitzgibbon and Fitzpatrick which most people would regard as Irish as the shamrock. Fitz, meaning ‘son of’, can be considered the Norman version of Mac (it derives from the Latin/French ‘fils de’, meaning ‘son of’). Burke came from de Burgh, Roche from de Roiste, Power from de Paor.

In 1366, a law was passed that “Every Englishman do use the English language, and be named by an English name, leaving off entirely the manner of naming used by the Irish.” This was introduced to dissuade the settlers from adopting Celtic prefixes or forms of surname. It didn’t have much affect as many settler families added Mac or ‘O’ and Norman names evolved into an Irish form (eg McHenry, McArthur).

In 1465 a law was passed enacting “that every Irishman that dwells betwixt or amongst Englishmen in the County of Dublin, Myeth, Vriell, and Kildare … shall take to him an English Surname of one town, as Sutton, Chester, Trym, Skryne, Corke, Kinsale; or colour, as white, blacke, browne; or arte or science, as smith or carpenter; or office, as cooke, butler ….”

Many of the trades of the early medieval period such as Archer, Butler, Cooper, Carpenter, Draper, Skinner, Tanner found their way into our surnames. Other introductions from this period came from the mercenary soldiers who accompanied the Norman invasion: Walsh (meaning Welsh), Joyce and Fleming (from Flemish mercenaries) are examples.

Incidentally, the Normans usually took their surnames from the place of their family origins. So, D’arcy originates in Arcy in Normandy. De Clare originates in Clare in Suffolk where the Anglo-Norman family were based. While De indicated their place of origin, Le was used to describe them, eg Le Poer meant ‘a poor person’.

De Burgh – Burke – from a placename in Suffolk, France

Le Botilier – Butler – Occupation bottle steward

De Barra – Barry – from an estate in Wales

Le Waleys – Walsh – the Welshmen

De Angulo – Costello/Nangle – from Nangle Pembrokeshire

What of their influence on forenames?

 Many of the Normans forenames introduced here were of a biblical or European saintly origin.

 In 1922, Reverend Patrick Woulfe wrote extensively on the topic of Irish name origins as follows:

In the same manner Norman and English names became current in Irish families during the thirteenth and subsequent centuries. These have now almost completely supplanted the old Gaelic names. The names borne by the Normans and by them introduced into Ireland, were of three kinds :

 (1) names of Scandinavian origin which their ancestors had carried with them to Normandy ;

(2) names of Germanic origin which the Frankish conquerors had brought across the Rhine and which had ousted the old Celtic and Latin names from France ; and

(3) Biblical names and Latin and Greek names of saints,, which the Normans began to adopt about the beginning of the eleventh century.

Together with these came in a few Celtic names from Brittany, a small number of Anglo-Saxon names, some Danish and Norse names from England, and one or two British or Welsh names. These were nearly all very rare and most of them soon died out. Of the Anglo-Saxon names, only two, Edmund and Edward, survived. Alfred has been revived in recent times. At the period of the Invasion, Frankish names were by far the most popular among the Normans, but Biblical and saintly names were coming rapidly into favour.

The following is a list, in order of frequency, of the more common names borne by the early Anglo- Norman invaders, the Biblical and saintly names of Latin and Greek origin being printed in italics :

William, Robert, Richard, John, Walter, Roger, Ralph, Adam, Hugh, Henry, Thomas, Nicholas, Gilbert, Geoffrey, Elias, Peter (Piers), Osbert, Reginald, Jordan, Simon, Alan, Stephen, Philip, David, Arnold, Alexander, Laurence, Baldwin, Herbert, Martin, Maurice, Godfrey, Andrew, Alfred, James, Samson, Turstein, Warin, Ailward, Daniel, Edward, Gregory, Bernard, Benedict, Hamon, Matthias, Michael, Gerard, Gervase, Lambert, Wilkin, Patrick, Edmund, Edwin, Hubert, Ivor, Joseph, Oliver, Mark.

 The following in alphabetical order were rare :

 Abraham, Adelard, Ailmer, Antony, Augustine, Brian, Clement, Constantine, Estmund, Eustace, Everard, Gocelin, Isaac, Leonard, Luke, Matthew, Miles, Milo, Odo, Osbern, Osmund, Pagan, Ponce, Randulf, Redmund, Rodulf, Silvester, Turold, Ulf, Vincent.

 The following names only came in, or at least became popular, at a later period :

Bartholomew, Christopher, Francis, Gerald, George, Paul, Roland, Theobald.

 Women’s names among the Normans were nearly all of the Biblical or saintly class:

 Agnes, Alice, Amelina, Anastasia, Annabella, Catherine, Cecily, Christina, Dorothy, Egidia, Eleanor, Evelyn, Frances, Honora, Isabella, Johanna, Matilda, Margaret, Susanna.

 The name Mary does not seem to have come into use in Ireland before the end of the16th century. Brigid only began to be used about the same period.

 

Extracted from ‘Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall’, Patrick Woulfe 1922

Out with the old, in with the new

The Anglo-Normans also brought with them new animal species such as the rabbit and fallow deer, new foods such as wheat, orchard fruits, mutton and farming practices such as hay-making. They introduced us to continental European religious saints and practices of the Roman Church. European religious orders soon followed such as the Franciscans, Augustinians, Cistercians, Dominicans etc. These replaced the structures of the native Irish Christian Church.

Up to then, the Irish natives did not adopt the name of saints as they considered this to be placing themselves on a par with the saint. Such naming convention was reserved for those of higher status in the monasteries. This was circumvented by use of the prefix Maol or Giolla meaning follower or servant. The Normans changed all of that and it was now acceptable to be called Peter, James, Michael, John, Mary, Brigid or Margaret.

Very few of us to this day do not have either a forename or surname that is not of Norman origin. Eventually, arising from the Gaelic Revival in the late 19th century, new Irish language versions of these forenames appeared such as Séan, Seamus, Peadar, Máire, Bríd, Mícheál, Cathal and many more appeared.

The Irish Church did not condemn the practice of slave-trading by the Irish until the invasion by the Anglo-Normans and the encroachment of the Roman Church. The story of Patrick (Patricius, son of a Roman administrator), which was introduced here after the Norman conquest, presents the native Irish as uncivilised pagan slavers who needed to be brought to heel. So the Normans inadvertently gave us our native saint and a forename for a good chunk of our population for generations following.

Out with the new, in with the old

Children are rarely given these European saint names today. Authentic Gaelic forenames are much more popular. We are nevertheless, unlikely to see the demise of the Anglo-Normans surnames that were introduced here. But all of us Mikes, Jimmies, Johnnys, Paddys, Kittys, Cathys, Maggies and Bridies can thank the Normans for what they brought us!