ferns churches crosses and castle

John, the first Anglo-Norman bishop of the diocese (1223-43), and which was burned in 1577. Seventy-five yards to the east is another 13th century building which may have acted as the monks' choir. In the churchyard of the present church there are some plain High Crosses, and a fragment of a thin cross-shaft which is supposed to mark the grave of Dermot MacMurrough Kavanagh.

Standing on a ledge just to the north of the road is St. Peter's Church, a nave-and-chancel church whose original nave extended much further westwards. As the church was not mentioned in a list of the major buildings in Ferns in 1537, it is suspected that the present church was built after that date, but incorporated parts of other churches. The Romanesque window on the interior of the south wall may have come from the Augustinian church, while the pointed external part may have come from the Cathedral.

The Castle:
The castle was probably built by one of the son of Maurice Fitzgerald or by William, Earl Marshall, the Justicar, around 1200, though the earliest reference to it is 1232, and some of the architectural details would even suggest a building date around the middle of the 13th century, when William de Vakebce owned it, The O'Toole clan took it in 1331, but it was re-taken shortly afterwards by Bishop Charnell.

By 1359 it was held by the Countess of Athol, and probably some time during the 15th century it was taken by the Irish. Lord Grey took the castle during the Rebellion of 'Silken Thomas' in 1536, but the Mac Murroughs remained wardens of the castle until John Travers took it over in the name of the King in 1550. In 1583 the Mastersons became Constables of the Castle, but they became sufficiently friendly to the native Irish to hold it for the Confederate Catholics in 1641. The castle surrendered to Cromwell in 1649, but after the Restoration of Charles II it was sold to Thomas Kiernan of Dublin who bequeathed it to the Donovans, who kept it till recent years. Originally the castle formed a square, with large rounded towers at each corner, but only half of the castle still survives.

There were three storeys inside, and some 13th century trefiol-headed windows are still preserved. On the first floor there was a circular chapel lighted by two of these windows and covered by a vault supported by corbels in the shape of capitals. Excavations in 1972-75 uncovered a rock-cut ditch outside the castle walls, with a drawbridge structure on the south side.