Durrow, County Offaly

Durrow (Irish: Darú, meaning "plain of the oaks")[1] is a small rural village and townland in County Offaly, Ireland. Durrow is located on the N52 off the N6 road between Kilbeggan (in County Westmeath) and Tullamore (in County Offaly).

Durrow

An Darú
Town
Durrow Catholic church and graveyard
Durrow
Location in Ireland
Coordinates: 53°20′N 7°31′W
CountryIreland
ProvinceLeinster
CountyOffaly
Government
 • Dáil ÉireannOffaly
Elevation
77 m (253 ft)
Time zoneUTC+0 (WET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-1 (IST (WEST))
Area code(s)057

Durrow Abbey, surrounded by woods, is one of Ireland's most important early Christian monasteries founded by Saint Colmcille. Some mistakenly assign County Laois as the location of this particular monastic settlement due to the presence of a larger town in Laois called Durrow.

Monastery
19th-century Durrow

Iona was established in exile and during that time Colum Cille yearned for monasteries in Ireland. The poem 'An Exile's Dream' specifically indicates Durrow as location for a monastery. Durrow was then part of the territory of Tethba, which now lies mostly in Co. Longford. It was also located near one of Ireland's five ancient routes, Slighe Mór. However, no accounts survive of what Colum Cille's monastery was like at its foundation. The monastic enclosure of Durrow can be seen in the aerial photographs of the surrounding lands. South of the monastery is evidence of Early Christian burials, unearthed by excavation of burial mounds by the National Museum of Ireland.[2]

Control

Patronage shifted during the millennium that followed the monastery's establishment. The Kings of Meath, Kings of Tethba and the MacGeoghegans, as well as chieftains known as Cinél Fiachach supported the monastery. This support did not permit them to appoint its abbot, who was selected from Colum Cille's own extended family at the start. Later rule of the Columban monasteries would be dominated by certain families who became hereditary rulers forming ecclesiastical dynasties.

Uí Neill association was also important and in 763 Domnall, King of Meath, was buried in the graveyard of Durrow. In 764 a war was fought with Clonmacnoise over burial rights, particularly the burial site of future Kings of Meath.

See also

References
  1. "Darú / Durrow". logainm.ie. Irish Placenames Commission. Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  2. O'Brien, C. (2006), pp 115–20, Stories from a Sacred Landscape, Offaly County Council, Offaly see also Durrow Abbey
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