Áras Cholmcille – the St Columba Heritage Centre – is in the grounds of the Long Tower church. It is an ideal place to get an overview of the stories of Colmcille, patron of the city. It has interactive and audio-visual displays and artefacts, and a range of facilities for visitors, including a café.
Like the Long Tower Church, Áras Cholmcille stands on or close to the site of the 12th century Great Church, the Teampall Mór.
The medieval pilgrimage started at the old harbour, and ended near the Teampall Mór at a place known as An tIompú Deiseal, literally ‘the turn to the right’. It was believed that Christ appeared here to Colmcille, in the form of a beggar.
Áras Cholmcille is located in a former school dating from 1813. This was St Columba’s National School, known affectionately locally as the “Wee Nuns’ School”.
St Augustine’s is a beautiful quiet space on the city walls, and from Easter to the end of September parishioners open the church during the day to welcome visitors. Modern research suggest that St Augustine’s is at or near the site of the earliest monastery church, the dúreigléas or ‘black church’.
According to the 12th and 16th centuries Lives of Colum Cille, the king of his homeland, Aodh Mac Ainmhire, granted Colmcille land at Daire Calgach (Derry) where he could found a monastery.
To cleanse the land of ‘the works of worldly men’ in preparation for his monastery, Colmcille lit a fire. The fire spread and almost destroyed a grove of oak trees so, to protect them, Colmcille prayed and the trees were saved.
The 12th Century Life of Colmcille written in the abbey includes this poem:
Is aire charaim Doire Ar a réide, ar a gloine Ar is lomlán aingel finn Ón chinn co n-ice ar-oile
This is why I love Derry It is so calm and bright For it is full of white angels From one end to the other.
The name of St Augustine’s goes back to when the monks of the Columban abbey became part of the Augustinian order in Ireland in the 12th or 13th centuries. The present church dates back to the early 17th century but has been rebuilt in the eighteenth and 19th centuries.
In the medieval city, Guild Hall Square was Port na Long – ‘the port of the ships’ on the banks of the Foyle. This is was a main approach to medieval city. It was also the starting point of a medieval pilgrimage described by Manus O’Donnell in 1532, and is the start of our trail today. The Peace Bridge across the Foyle also leads here. The bridge allows good views of the city and is a good approach to the beginning of the pilgrim trail.
From the first station on the banks of the Foyle, the pilgrims walked up the hill. To follow the route today, go through Magazine Gate and past the Tower Museum, which recalls a medieval tower which also overlooked the pilgrim route.
The earliest account of Colmcille’s life, written around 700, tells of monks travelling between Iona and Derry. By the twelfth century, the abbey wrote of Colmcille leaving Derry for exile, followed by the cries of seagulls.
Several recent journeys have left Derry in a traditional curragh recreating Colmcille’s voyage. In medieval times, the Foyle An Feabhal was seen as one stretch of water from Magilligan under Benevenagh to where the Finn and Mourne rivers meet. There was no distinction between the lough and the river.
Temple Douglas was an ancient monastic site which used to stand on the old road out of Letterkenny, the main route for travellers passing through the area.
Colmcille is said to have been baptised here as a Christian in 521 by his foster father Cruithneachán mac Ceallachán.
It was common practice for the sons of noble families to be fostered as children. Foster fathers were expected to teach their foster-sons riding, marksmanship, swimming and how to play board-games.
Colmcille’s biographer and successor as Abbot of Iona, Adomnán, wrote
“One night St Columba’s foster-father, a priest of admirable life, whose name was Cruithneachán, was returning to his house from church after the office, when he saw the whole house bathed in a bright light, and poised over the face of the sleeping child was a fiery ball of light. He began to tremble, and bowed his face to the ground for he recognised that the grace of the Holy Ghost was poured from heaven upon his foster-son, and he stood in awe.”
Life of St Columba by Adomnán of Iona, Book III Story 2
Although the story of Colmcille being baptised here is often stated as fact, there is no documentary evidence for the link between Tulach Dubhglaise and the saint. Saints are often linked with specific sites, even though there is no particular evidence for the association. These sites often have ancient monuments on them which pre-date the life of the saint.
The church on this site is said to have been rebuilt in the 16th century by Manus O’Donnell on the site of an earlier church.
This site formed part of a medieval pilgrimage route linking the sites in the Gartan area which were associated with the early life of Colmcille.
This is where Colmcille is said to have lived with his foster father Cruithneachán. There are two parts to the site – the left hand side is linked to Colmcille while the right side is the site of a 19th century Church of Ireland church.
This site formed part of a medieval pilgrimage route linking those sites in the Gartan area which were associated with the early life of Colmcille..
It was common for the sons of important families to be raised and educated in a foster family. Cruithneachán was a priest and would have been responsible for Colmcille’s religious education as well as teaching him the skills of a nobleman such as marksmanship, riding and swimming.
“The noble priest Cruithneachán son of Ceallachán baptised him immediately following his birth and gave him the name Crimthann. Cruithneachán fostered and instructed him after that, as the angels of God had told him to. Crimthann means the same in Gaelic as ‘deceitful one’ or ‘fox’ means in Latin. It seemed to Almighty God that this wasn’t a kind or suitable name for the quality or goodness of the holy boy, so He put it into the hearts and minds of the children and boys that played and sported with him to call him Colum Cille. Or was it His own angels that were sent to them to tell them to call him that…
As the holy youth was being trained in the nearby monastic settlement of Doire Eithne (‘Eithne’s Oakwood’), that is known today as Kilmacrennan, the children that played with him called him Colum (‘Dove’) of the Cill (‘Church’). That is how Colum Cille was his name.”
Manus O’Donnell p33
Tradition says that Colmcille returned to this site in order to found a monastery sometime before he left Derry for Scotland in 563. This foundation is said to have survived until 1129 when it was raided and burned down.
There was a later Franciscan friary on the site, founded by Manus O’Donnell in 1537. O’Donnell was responsible for the ‘Life of Colum Cille’ which was completed in 1532. This extensive account of the saint’s life is the source of many links between Colmcille and this area.
The local O’Donnell chieftains were said to have been inaugurated on this site. The ceremony took place in two parts – the religious element here at Kilmacrenan and the civil ceremony at Doon Rock.
Until the 16th century, the Rock of Doon was the inauguration site of the O’Donnell chieftains. There were two ceremonies – one civil ritual here and one religious ritual which took place at Kilmacrenan. It is likely that this was the site of a fort belonging to the O’Donnells.
Manus O’Donnell was responsible for an account of Colmcille’s life which was completed in 1532. This book clearly links Colmcille to this area, although it was written nearly 1,000 years after the saint’s death.
The inauguration ceremony was supposedly attended by people with both religious and secular authority – a member of the O’Friel family who conducted the inauguration, the bishops of Derry and Ratho, and other sub-chiefs and men of the church. Ceremonies were conducted here between 1200 and 1603.
From the rock, there are good views of the surrounding moorland.
The holy well at Doon is said to have been first blessed by a Columban monk. Water from this well is linked to a number of miraculous cures.
People still visit this site to collect holy water and pray for a cure. Like many other holy sites, people saying their prayers at this well do so with bare feet.
Rosary beads, crucifixes and other tokens are left in a tree next to the well by people who are praying for a cure.
Churchtown – Ráth Cnó – is said to be the place where Colmcille’s family lived. According to tradition they later gave over the land so that a monastic settlement could be created here.
The site is still used as a turas by pilgrims who walk barefoot between the five marked stations. Believers follow the turas between Colmcille’s feast day on 9th June and the end of the turas season on 15th August, performing a series of prayers and actions at each stop.
Churchtown was one stop on a longer medieval pilgrimage route which linked a number sites in the Gartan area associated with the early life of Colmcille.
It is said that this abbey was built by Manus O’Donnell in the 16th century. O’Donnell’s ‘Life of St Colum Cille’ was completed in 1532 and is the main source for the links between Colmcille and the Gartan area.
The centre of the graveyard is said to incorporate the foundations of a monastery.
This stone cross is one of two surviving on this site. Originally four crosses would have marked the boundaries of the monastic settlement here.
The area marked by the crosses offered protection to people who had been accused of committing a crime – they could be looked after in safety within the monastery’s land until such time as a trial could take place. So the monastery offered protection from arbitrary punishment.
This flagstone at Lacknacoo is one of the places where Colmcille’s mother Eithne is said to have given birth to him. The other place is at nearby Churchtown.
The flagstone is dotted with small ‘cupmarks’. The origins of this ancient monument aren’t known but it may date to the Bronze Age.
In recent times visitors have placed copper coins on the stone leaving rusty marks.
This site was part of a medieval pilgrimage route linking a number of sites in the Gartan area associated with the early life of Colmcille .
According to Manus O’Donnell’s account of Colmcille’s life, on the night before Colmcille was born Eithne saw a vision of a young man. The youth told Eithne that there was a flagstone in Lough Aikkbon which should be brought to Rath Cnó where the saint would be born. The stone was found by Eithne’s family and brought to this place. When Colmcille was born, a cross-shaped niche opened up on the stone. She is also said to have also produced a blood-coloured stone – an cloch ruadh – which was kept in Gartan and which had healing powers.
‘Colmcille was born then on the seventh of December in Gartan in Cenél Conaill, and Rath Cnó is the name of the specific place in Gartan. And the aforementioned flagstone was under him at his birth. The baby lay cross-wise on it and the flag opened so as to make a space for him, and the figure of a cross is on the flagstone from that time to this. This flagstone has remained in that place working miracles and wonders.’
Manus O’Donnell p32
White clay found in a semi-secret location in Gartan – known as Gartan clay – is said to have strong protective powers. Manus O’Donnell links the clay with the birth of Colmcille,
‘Eithne went to a lonely little valley beside a small stream when she went into labour. She sat down in a certain spot there and left in that place some of the blood that comes before the child. Flour isn’t whiter or finer than the clay found there and anyone who eats it or carries it with them is never burned or drowned, nor will they die without a priest. And every woman who eats it in the pangs of childbirth will be helped. And anyone that puts it on their tongue on the first day that they are seized by a fever will have no bitter taste in their mouth as long as the fever lasts. And it is its nature to heal every disease. But it must be one of the natives of Gartan that digs the clay for distribution.’
In the 19th century, many thousands of people left Donegal to live in America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Forced off the land by poverty, famine and ruthless landowners, they walked the 30 miles or more to Derry to start their transatlantic journey. When they left Donegal, they knew they would never return.
It became commonplace for emigrants to spend their last night here on the Leac na Cumhadh – the Stone of Sorrows. As Colmcille had decided to exile himself to Scotland, they thought that sleeping here – where he was born – would make their sadness easier to bear.
Up to the 1950s, friends and families would gather here with the emigrants for an ‘American wake’ before walking the first few miles of their journey with them.
An account in Manus O’Donnell’s book of Colmcille’s life gives us the origin of the story and the name:-
“Once he was in a certain place called Gort na Leic (‘Field of the Flagstone’) in Gartan, west of Rath Cnó where he was born. A local man came to him because many of his friends and family had died, and he was distraught and very sorrowful after them. The extent of his sorrow was so great that he would rather die than live after them. And when Colom Cille saw him, he had great pity for him and blessed a flagstone that was beside him and gave that man water from it to drink so that his sorrow disappeared… And Colum Cille left as a grace on that stone that the sorrow of anyone who would drink from it would leave them… “Leac na CumhaIdh” (‘Flagstone of the Sorrows/Loneliness’) is the name of that stone today, in memory of that great miracle.”
Cornelia’s husband was local landowner John Adair. Before they married, Adair had become notorious for the infamous Derryveagh Evictions in 1861 when he had 250 tenants forcibly and violently removed from his land in order to create a huge estate for sheep farming. Many had no choice but to emigrate.
The home of the Adairs – Glenveagh Castle – is nearby. Cornelia is known for the work that she did to enlarge the castle and create the extensive gardens. The castle is now part of Glenveagh National Park
Sitting behind the Leac na Cumhaidh is an earthern mound topped with stones arranged in a U-shape. The origins and date of the mound are unknown.
The Colmcille Heritage Centre sits on the shore of Gartan Lough on the edge of Glenveagh National Park. Displays in the centre tell the story of Colmcille’s early years in the Gartan area and describe the spread of early Christianity in Ireland and Scotland, giving details of monastic and religious life.
There is a replica of the 6th-8th century Bell of St Columba which was kept in the Gartan area and passed down through successive generations of one family. It was said that water drunk from the bell would cure any illness.
The Centre is open from the first Sunday in May until the last Sunday in October. Mondays-Saturdays 10.30-17.00 and Sundays 13.30-17.00.
The ruins of the late medieval Tullaghobegley Church and graveyard lie on a small mound just to the south of Falcarragh. This tulach – or ‘low hill’ or ‘mound’ – was probably used for tribal inauguration ceremonies or other gatherings.
Remains of other ancient monuments can be found nearby including burial grounds, a holy well and the prehistoric Cloghacorr Court Tomb. This suggests that the area was a focus for rituals as far back as c.3000BC.
The parish of Tullaghabegley covers a large area of this northwest corner of Donegal. The area is named after and connected with a local saint – Bigill, Tulcha or Bigill of Tulach. It is possible that this saint and the practice of celebrating his feast day on 1 November, have their origins in pre-Christian pagan belief when the feast of Samain was celebrated on this same day.
The name of the mythical figure of Lug may offer another explanation for the origin of Tullaghobegley. An early name for this mound and its church was Talgalug in Latin or Tulach Logha in Irish which means the ‘mound or assembly place of Lug’.
Locally the saint is also known as Beigbhile or Beaglaoch and is claimed to have been a relative of Colmcille. Beaglaoch appears in the story of how Colmcille came to convert Tory Island by winning a staff-throwing contest – Begley’s staff only made it as far as Tullaghobegley which is why he built his church on this site.
Another story collected locally claims to explain why the church was here:-
Beaglaoch was traveling through the Muckish Gap, wandering ‘with no fixed destination … except that he knew that God was telling him to keep on going.’ He had no possessions, except for a donkey which he had found lost and wandering. The donkey was ‘unbiddable’. As evening came on, the saint sat down to rest, leaving the donkey to range free in the fresh grass. As he sat there, the saint had ‘some sort of vision’ and realized that he had reached his destination.
Wherever the donkey settled himself for the night was the site for the new foundation. So the saint tracked down the donkey, and found him easily enough, settled down for the night on a grassy mound – a place, as it happened, where the local pagans engaged in their heathen practices of celebration and commemoration of their gods. Beaglaoch [St Begley] took possession of the place. He blessed it in the name of the Lord. He expelled the superstitious heathens. And that is how God brought Beaglaoch to the tulach.
(quoted from: Tulach Beaglaoich inné agus inniu. Glór na nGael, An Fál Carrach, agus Cumann Staire is Seanchais Chloich Cheann Fhaola)
