Fahan

Fahan Irish: Fathain Mura
County Donegal
Fahan from Inch Top
Location
Grid reference:	C333270
Location:	55°5’20"N, 7°28’42"W
Data
Population:	588  (2016)
Local Government

Fahan is a district of Inishowen in the north of County Donegal, sitting three miles south of Buncrana. Fahan is named after its patron saint, Saint Mura, first abbot of Fahan, an early Christian monastery: the name is from the Irish Fathain Mura, meaning 'Little green/field of Mura'.

History

The walled graveyard, located west of the rectory, contains the grave of pioneering nurse Agnes Jones, the ruins of a 6th-century monastery featuring a 7th-century cross-slab of St. Mura, and the ruins of a 16th-century monastery and 17th-century church together with a number of grave slabs bearing coats of arms. The monastery and village were sacked by Vikings in the 10th and 13th centuries. Mediæval mill wheels are built into both the graveyard wall and the wall on the opposite side of the road.

Cecil Frances Alexander lived in the old rectory in the late 19th century. Her contemporary, Agnes Jones who was born in Cambridge, trained with Florence Nightingale and served as a nurse in the Crimean War. Edward Maginn, a 19th-century bishop, served as a parish priest in Fahan.

The church to the north of the rectory contains an early 20th-century stained-glass window by Evie Hone which depicts St Elizabeth of Hungary.

Fahan railway station which opened on 9 September 1864, closed for passenger traffic on 6 September 1948 and finally ceased on 10 August 1953.

Pictures

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  St. Mura Cross Slab from the 7th century

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  Old church from the 17th century

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  St Mura's Church

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  Fahan beach