The Herenagh Families of Donegal
Saint Columba was born in December 521 in Donegal, Ireland and came from a wealthy family. His original name was Columcille meaning "Dove of the Cell". Even as a young boy he spent a lot of time and energy on church activities. In adulthood, Columba was deeply involved in the work of building churches. He also copied and reproduced many copies of the bible. In 545 Columba established a monastery at Daire-Calgaich (or Derry).
Between 545 and 562 he founded more monastic institutions including Durrow, Kells, Arran, Boyle, Swords, Raphoe, Tory Island, Glencolumbkille, and Drumcliff. His family became involved in a conflict in 561 which led to the bloody battle of Cul Dreimne and it was as a result of this that he left Ireland and went to Scotland in 563 and there he founded a monastic foundation at Iona where he zealously preached the Gospel to the inhabitants. Columba died in 597 in Iona having set an example through his dedication, devotion and courage in helping those in need and was described as a ‘humble and self-sacrificing man’.
The monasteries of the sixth century were the resting place for travellers on long journeys; they could rest, get food and a bed for the night for themselves and their horses. The monasteries were self-sufficient: animals were reared, crops and vegetable gardens cultivated. Each monastery usually would have a water mill by a stream and they would also have had beehives and orchards. The church would have been in the centre of the buildings as it was the centre of the lives of the monks. Surrounding this would have been the monk’s living quarters (cells), the kitchens and the workshops housing the smiths and carpenters. Outside of the walls were the farms with their byres and barns. While Columba was at Raphoe there is a story that he was approached by the people because their Smith had drowned in the millrace while making a mill. Columba raised the smith from the dead and on another occasion he blessed the hand of an unskilled youth called Fergia who went on to become a master smith.
St Adamnan (or Eunan) was born about 623, probably at Drumholm, south-west Donegal. His father was Ronan and his mother Ronnat of the Cinnel Enna and was a kinsman of Columba and indeed he wrote "The Life of Columba" (Vitae Columbae). His mother and father decided that when he was old enough he should go to Raphoe to "spend the novitiate of his religious life". It is widely believed that it was St Eunan who erected the church into a cathedral and is looked upon as the first Bishop of the See. It is known that he was Abbot of Iona from the death of Failbhe in 679 until his death in 703 although he visited Ireland during this time. In Canon Maguire’s "The Life of Adamnan – Patron of Raphoe" it is stated that Eunan’s remains were translated form Iona to Raphoe in 828 and re-interred in front of the Altar in the old Cathedral
The place known as "The Close", in Raphoe marks the cloister of the ancient monastery. There was a stone chest in the cellar, which was thought to be a font. There is a popular tale that Eunan’s mother was concerned that the women of Ireland were obliged to fight in battles and she implored Eunan to pass a law to change these cruel practices; men forced women to stand in pits holding wooden cooking stakes to roast meat and thrashed them as well as sending them into battle. She chained Eunan to the Bridge of the Swilly in Tirconnell and put a stone in his mouth "so that he had his fill both of food and drink". After eight months, Eunan begged for a change of torture and it is said that his mother took him to Raphoe and buried him in a stone chest (see above) "until the worms devoured the root of his tongue" . An angel came down to help Eunan’s mother to persuade Eunan to free the women of Ireland from this abuse and their obligation to fight in battles. "A canon was passed known as Cain Adamnan, legislating for the protection of women and their exemption, along with that of boys and clerics, from the obligation of engaging in battle."
St Eunan’s Church of Ireland Cathedral:
Built on a prominent site at one corner of the Diamond, St Eunan’s Cathedral – or the town clock – is the first landmark one sees as they come into Raphoe. This building symbolises our long ecclesiastical history in Ireland dating back to the 6th century. The Cathedral is named after St Eunan (627-704) who developed the monastery and church, which was founded by St Columba in Raphoe a century earlier. St Eunan later became ninth Abbot of Iona. The only remaining parts of the monastery today are two pieces of a sculptured lintel dating from the ninth century while the oldest part of the present building is the south-east corner, which dates back to the 12th century. The rest of the Cathedral is a mixture of successive re-buildings and alterations dating from the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, with most of the present fabric dating from the 1730’s.
Bishop John Leslie who was translated to the See of Raphoe in 1633 built the Bishop’s Palace in 1636 and had formerly been a soldier and he had the distinction of being the only Church of Ireland Bishop who was left untroubled by Cromwell, who even paid him a small pension on condition that his army caused no trouble. The Cathedral has existed; not only for its bishops and dignitaries, but also for the people of the community it serves. The Cathedral graveyard is still the resting place for a wide spectrum of people and the Cathedral registers record the births and deaths of vagrants and bishops alike, the unusual and the everyday, generations of others who have inhabited this town throughout the centuries.
Clonca Parish
MacLochlainn, (clanlaughlangrilles) Greallagh herenaghs of Greallagh (Carrowtemple (now Templemoyle), Drumaville and Drumballycaslin)
OhEarcain (O'Harkan), O Maolmhocheire,(O'Mollinogher)
(herenaghs of the Clonca section)
O Gormain (associated with Tobar Muirdhealiagh at Malin Head) townland of Ballygorman Custodians of the Holy Stone (at Malin Well) Church called the Gorman church
Clonmany
Culdaff
O Dufaigh (O'Duffy) lived originally in Dunross lived in post-reformation times in Glacknadrummond and were hereditary custodians of the Bell of St. Buadan (9th cent. bronze bell) Last member of family died at the beginning of this century. Bell now in the custody of the parish priest at Bocan, the parochial church of Culdaff. Church of St. Buadan's at Culdaff
Desertegney
Mac Rodaigh
Donagh
Mac Colgan
Fahan
Mac Ceile
O Donaill (two septs)
Moville
MacLochlainn
O Maoleachlainn
Derry
MacLochlainn
O Daighre
O Cobhaigh
Herenagh septs in the rest of Donegal
source: 1609 Inquisition at Liffer
Irish Patent Rolls of
James I.
Monastic lands at Burt and Kullourt
MacRuairi (Burt)
O Duibhin (Kullourt)
Some had connections with other parts of the country as well:
O Dufaigh (Connacht)
Mac Ceile (Mayo and Leitrim)
Mac Ruairi (Derry)
Other Officials in Inishowen
Keepers of the Saint's Bell at Donagh (O Dufaigh)
Keepers of the Bell of Buadan (O Dufaigh)
Keepers of the Miosach of Colm Cille (O Muireasain of Clonmany)
the "clerk" at Fahan
the "official" at Moville
the collector of the bishop's dues in Inish Eoghain (O Muireasain)
Notes on the Herenagh Families of Inishowen are taken from Brian Bonner's
series of books on the Inishowen Peninsula. "Where Aileach Guards," "That
Audacious Traitor," and "Our Inis Eoghain Heritage."