Devenish Monastery
The monastery Devenish (also Devinish ; Irish Daimhinis , German ox island ) was a monastery on the island of Devenish in Lower Lough Erne in County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland . You can take the small ferry from "Trory Point", about 6.6 km north of Enniskillen to the island.
The monastery on Devenish, founded in the 6th century by Saint Laisrén mac Nad Froích (also called "St. Molaise"), was the most important of the island monasteries in Lough Erne. The order of the Culdeer , founded around 800 AD, is said to have been represented on Devenish, but no relics from this period have survived. The monastery was attacked by Vikings in 837 and burned in 1157 during internal Irish disputes. In the Middle Ages it was rebuilt as an Augustinian monastery .
An early church fence made of low earth walls on the slope surrounds the complex. The earliest buildings are the "House of St. Molaise" (a very small church) and the round tower , both from the 12th century and with Romanesque decor. "Teampull Mór", the lower-lying church with a beautifully shaped south window, dates from the beginning of the 13th century. It was expanded to the east around 1300. Later extensions follow through the north wing and the "Maguire Chapel" in the south with heraldic panels from the 17th century. The "St. Marys Priory “of the Augustinian Canons with church, tower and the small north monastery on the hill dates from the middle of the 15th or early 16th century. A complicated high cross from the middle of the 15th century stands in their cemetery . In the local museum (built 1976–1978) many of the loose stones are shown in their historical context. There is a porthole in the outdoor area .
literature
- Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960.
- Aubrey Gwynn , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
Web links
Coordinates: 54 ° 22 ′ 12.1 ″ N , 7 ° 39 ′ 21.7 ″ W.