towers round drumcliffe

St. Colmcille founded a monastery here about 575 on lands given by King Aedh Ainmire. Not far away, at Culderimne, the saint had been heavily involved in a battle in 561 in a dispute over the ownership of a book! The monastery seems to have been well known from the 9th to the 16th century, and was plundered by Maelseachlain O'Rourke in 1187. It was plundered again in 1267 and 1315, and the last known abbot died in 1503.

The Church of Ireland church stands on the site of an older chu...