About
ARDSTRAW – EARLY RELIGIOUS SETTLEMENT ON THE BANKS OF THE RIVER DERG:
The earliest record of a church at Ardstraw is that of MacEirc – a disciple of Saint Patrick. However, this was built upon in the late 6th century and was transformed by Saint Eugene into a famous monastery that was to become an episcopal See. It should be noted that although Eugene today is celebrated as the patron saint of the Diocese of Derry, he never held the title Bishop of Derry.
He was in fact Bishop of Ardstraw, a see comprising the greater part of County Derry, all of Inishowen (in Donegal) and a great part of Tyrone.
THE UÍ NEILL: After Eugene's death in August 618AD, Ardstraw remained an important ecclesiastical centre within the Irish Church. It is believed the monastery provided shelter for pilgrims making their way along the River Derg to St Patrick's Holy Island at Lough Derg.
It also played a key role in helping to resolve local political disputes. Such was the monastery's status that it received patronage from the Uí Fiachra clan and later the Uí Neills. A number of the Uí Neill chieftains, including Turlough Luineach Uí Neill (among the last of the northern Uí Neill Chieftains) were buried in Ardstraw Old Graveyard during this period.
It was because of Uí Neill patronage and its presumed wealth that the monastery is recorded as being continually under the threat of attack from rival clans. Raids on the site are recorded as having occurred in 1069, 1095 and 1099. A further attack in 1101 being attributed to Muireartach O'Brien, King of Munster and High King of Ireland. However, it was the frequent and bitter rivalry between the Uí Neill and the Uí Dónaill clans which dominated the local landscape over the centuries. The early medieval bridge at Ardstraw and its predecessors became recognised as a location for peace negotiations, with the talks being overseen by the local clergy. When terms between the two clans were agreed, they were then sworn to over the church's holy relics.
DECLINE IN INFLUENCE:
There are two key moments which marked the terminal decline in the fortune of the monastery at Ardstraw. The first was the decision to move the See from Ardstraw to Maghera in 1150. The second was the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.
Samuel Lewis' Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) underpins this decline. He records that Ardstraw Graveyard was known to have contained a number of ancient and ornate memorials but that many of these antiquities had been destroyed when a road was laid out through the graveyard.
Lewis also noted that in 1837 the ruins of an ancient church and a structure that was traditionally considered to be the Bishop's Palace, located next to the 17th century bridge, still survived. There are no traces of these ruined buildings today.
