Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1879 edition. Excerpt: ... walls, fast crumbling away, and some carved stones of the arches and cornices, scattered along the walls of the graveyard adjoining: --"Gray, gray is Abbey Asaroe, by Ballyshanny town, It has neither door nor window, the walls are broken down; The carven stones lie scattered in briar and nettle-bed; The only feet are those that come at burial of the dead. A little rocky rivulet runs murmuring to the tide, Singing a song of ancient days, in sorrow, not in pride; The elder-tree and lightsome ash across the portal grow, And heaven itself is now the roof of Abbey Asaroe." It may be observed that the abbeys of Tirconnell, Tyrone, and Fermanagh, preserved their independence, and therefore their existence, to a much later date than the other Irish foundations; for although all the monasteries were formally dissolved by Henry VIII., yet these monasteries "were never surveyed or reduced into charge" but "were continually possessed by the religious persons" till the time of James I. CHAPTER V. THE O'DONNELLS IN BALLYSHANNON. In A.d. 1200, the O'Donnell family succeeded to the chieftainship of Tirconnell, but it was not until 1423 that their illustrious name became intimately connected with Ballyshannon. It was at the latter date that the castle of Ballyshannon was built by Neal Garv O'Donnell. From its close proximity to the rival kingdom of Connaught, and from the fact of its being a seaport, the place was regarded as an important military post--in short, as the chief gateway of Tirconnell. The site of the castle was chosen that it might command the principal ford of the river--the ford of Athseanaigh. Bridges, it should be remembered, are of comparatively modern introduction From the poem " Abbey Asaroe " by William Allingham. into this country;...
