Clues to be Found

If you are looking for an out-of-the-way place where you can cut yourself off from the world Clonamery in Kilkenny would be a good choice.  To get there you need to navigate a web of farm lanes before arriving at a gate beyond which is a hilly field with a clump of trees on top and no path leading there.  

It might appear ideal for a hermit but early Irish monks were used to working with and for people and providing hospitality to travellers.  So why build in such a remote spot?

The answers is to be found on the other side of the hill where the River Nore passes on its way to Waterford. When Clonamery was founded the river was its road to the outside would and on which visitors would have come.    

It’s an example of what you have to do to understand Clonamery. No helpful tourist information is provided so you must look around for clues and fortunately there are plenty to help you understand Clonamery over the centuries.

One example is the claucans, small stone beehive-shaped huts. Their foundations survive in a field at the top of the hill and may be hard to locate but at least knowing they are there alerts you that Clonamery was among the earliest Irish monastic communities. They date from the time when the monks, following the advice of their ‘Desert Fathers’ spiritual guides,  cut themselves off in such confined spaces to concentrate on their inner strengths and weakness before involving themselves in social activities.

When people gathered around the monks later a church was built, first in wood and then in stone.  Clonamery’s  church is an example of the earliest stone type.  Its walls slope slightly inwards to provide stability by preventing the stonework from slipping or spreading.

The doorway in the huge lower stones (called ‘cyclopean’) is narrower at the top than the bottom to create a sense of harmony. How they fitted a slanted doorway with hinges that would allow it to be closed is a puzzle.  There are no clues for that one.

The original church was quite small.  New materials were added to the ‘cyclopean’ lower wall as it grew and a chancel and sacristy were added. Also two small bell turrets, one to remind local people when mass was about to start and the other to mark the most solemn moment of the liturgy.

Ancient crosses and slabs stacked inside the church indicate that there had been a sizeable compound outside.  The ‘Snake-Dragon Cross’ depicting scenes of Noah's Ark and the life of John the Baptist is topped with a dragon.  Another has two crosses and several cupmarks carved into it.

However there is no clue about the identity of Clonamery’s founder. The name ‘Broonahawn’ or Brendan has been mentioned but was it Brendan the Navigator, Brendan of Birr or a lesser known local personage?

Despite my efforts to follow  the clues at Clonamery you should go there yourself, climb the hill and  discover what I missed.  I’m sure there’s more it is trying to tell us.