Ferns, County Wexford
| Ferns Irish: Fearna | |
| County Wexford | |
|---|---|
 Ferns Abbey | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | T017498 |
| Location: | 52°35’24"N, 6°29’49"W |
| Data | |
| Population: | 1,317 (2022) |
| Local Government | |
Ferns is a historic town in north County Wexford. It is seven miles north of Enniscorthy. The remains of Ferns Castle are in the centre of the town.
The bname of the town is given in the Irish language as Fearna, which is short for Fearna Mór Maedhóg.[1]
History
Ferns is believed to have been established in the 6th century, when a monastery was founded in 598 dedicated to St Mogue of Clonmore (St. Aidan), who was a Bishop of Ferns.[2] The town became the capital of the Kingdom of Leinster, and also the Capital of Ireland when the kings of that southern part of the province established their seat of power there.
This was a very large city in its age, but shrank after a fire destroyed most of it. The city stretched all the way past the River Bann (tributary of the River Slaney), and it is speculated that had it not burned, it would be one of Ireland's biggest cities today.
King Dermot MacMurrough founded St. Mary's Abbey as a house of Augustinian canons c. 1158 and was buried there in 1171.[3][4]
Ferns Castle, an Anglo-Norman fortress, was built in the middle of the 13th century by William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke. In the time of Elizabeth I, it was granted to Sir Thomas Maisterson from Nantwich, Cheshire, who became a considerable force in the county. Today about half of the castle still stands. The town also contains the 13th-century St Edan's Cathedral (Church of Ireland) This was a big aisled cathedral with a long chancel. The present east wall of the cathedral is the original east wall; the cathedral ran further to the west, towards the entrance to the cemetery. It has been suggested that the ruined building to the east, which has a row of fine Gothic windows, might have been built to house the effigy of Bishop John St John, now on the porch of the church.[4] The Tower and the Chapter House were added on in the 19th century. The cemetery has several high crosses and parts of crosses.
The 19th-century population peaked in 1851, but never reached the levels of mediæval times. Lewis's Topography of 1834 claimed the town "consists chiefly of one irregular street, and contains 106 houses indifferently built, retaining no trace of its ancient importance".[5] The Abbey, St.Peter's Church (Catholic and Anglican), and the remainder of the great cathedral are regarded as historic, holy places, and are still regarded as churches. This includes the abbey, which has the title of an abbey church.
Church of St Aidan
The old Roman Catholic church stood in the north of the town until the 1970s, when it was decided to demolish the building. A convent, St. Aidan's Monastery of Adoration, has stood in its place since 1990.[6]
The new Church of St Aidan was completed in 1975.
Sport
- Gaelic sports: Ferns St Aidan's GAA
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Ferns, County Wexford) |
- Ferns Village Website - Heritage, Community and Business
- Roman Catholic diocese of Ferns
- Fáilte Ireland's description of Ferns Template:Webarchive
- Northwexford.com's description of Ferns
References
- ↑ Fearna/Ferns: Placenames Database of Ireland
- ↑ Blue Guide, Ireland. Brian Lalor. (p248) ISBN 0-7136-6130-5
- ↑ Gwynn, Aubrey; R. Neville Hadcock (1970). Mediæval Religious Houses Ireland. London: Longman. pp. 175–176. ISBN 0-582-11229-X.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 T. O'Keeffe & R. Carey Bates, The abbey and cathedral of Ferns, 1111-1253, in Ian Doyle and Bernard Browne (eds) Mediæval Wexford. Essays in memory of Billy Colfer. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 73-96
- ↑ Lewis, Samuel (1837). A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland. Dublin, Ireland: Samuel Lewis. p. 624. https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_dDQE_stxs-AC.
- ↑ "The Many Wonders of Ferns". Enniscorthy Guardian. 2010-08-10. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/enniscorthyguardian/news/the-many-wonders-of-ferns-27239561.html.