Innisfallen
Native name:
Inis Faithlinn
The ruins of Innisfallen Abbey seen from the lake
Innisfallen is located in island of Ireland
Innisfallen
Innisfallen
Geography
LocationLough Leane
Coordinates52°02′45″N 9°33′13″W / 52.04583°N 9.55361°W / 52.04583; -9.55361
Area21 acres (8.5 ha)
Administration
ProvinceMunster
CountyKerry
Demographics
Population0

Innisfallen (/ˌɪnɪsˈfælən/ IN-iss-FAL-ən)[1] or Inishfallen (from Irish: Inis Faithlinn [ˈɪnʲɪʃ ˈfah(ə)lʲɪn̠ʲ],[1] meaning 'Faithlinn's island') is an island in Lough Leane; one of the three Lakes of Killarney in County Kerry, Ireland. Innisfallen is home to the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey.

View of Innisfallen (W. H. Bartlett, 1884)

Geography

Innisfallen is situated about the midway in Lough Leane, County Kerry.[2] The island is some 21 acres (85,000 m2) in area, mostly wooded, with undulating hills and many slopes.[3] It lies within the Killarney National Park.

Access

It is possible for tourists to visit the island during the summer months, with boats leaving from Ross Castle throughout the day.

History

View of Innisfallen from Ross Castle

Innisfallen is home to the ruins of Innisfallen Abbey, one of the most impressive archaeological remains dating from the early Christian period. The monastery was founded in 640 by Saint Finian[lower-alpha 1] and was occupied for approximately 950 years. Over a period of about 300 of these, the monks wrote the Annals of Innisfallen, which chronicle the early history of Ireland as it was known to the monks. The monks were dispossessed of the abbey on 18 August 1594, by Elizabeth I.

The location of the monastery on the island is thought to have given rise to the name Lough Leane (Irish Loch Léin), which in English means "Lake of Learning". According to tradition the Irish High King Brian Boru received his education at Innisfallen under Maelsuthain O'Carroll.[6] Maelsuthain has been credited as the possible originator of the Annals.[6]

Structures

While the abbey dates back to the seventh century, the oldest extant structure, dated to the tenth century, is the western two-thirds of the abbey church. The remainder of the church and the main abbey complex were constructed in the thirteenth century. A third structure, an oratory with a Hiberno-Romanesque doorway, dates from the twelfth century.[7]

Literature

The island is the subject of the melody Innisfallen, the Island — Sweet Innisfallen by Thomas Moore, of which the first verse is:[2]

Sweet Innisfallen, fare thee well !
May calm and sunshine long be thine ;
How fair thou art let others tell,
To feel how fair shall long be mine.

It is also the subject of "The Abbot of Innisfallen. A Killarney Legend", a poem by William Allingham, first published in Macmillan's Magazine (August 1864).[8] This was in turn set to music by Geoffrey Molyneux Palmer as The Abbot of Innisfalen, Op. 5, for baritone, chorus and orchestra, which won the cantata prize at the 1908 Feis Ceoil in Dublin.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ John Healy (1890) disputed the common belief that the church and abbey on Innisfallen in Lough Leane was founded by Saint Finian Lobhar (Finan the Leper), which he considered improbable.[4] Saint Finan Cam, on the other hand, was born in County Kerry of an old family of Kerry, and spent most of his life in the west of Kerry, where many places bear his name.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 "Inis Faithlinn/Innisfallen". Logainm.ie.
  2. 1 2 Killarney (1849), p. 36.
  3. ↑ Killarney (1849), p. 37.
  4. ↑ Healy 1890, p. 439.
  5. ↑ Healy 1890, p. 440.
  6. 1 2 O'Connor 1910.
  7. ↑ Okasha & Forsyth 2001, p. 160.
  8. ↑ Allingham, William (August 1864). "The Abbot of Innisfallen: A Killarney Legend". Macmillan's Magazine. 10 (58): 288–289.

Sources

  • Description of the lakes of Killarney and the surrounding scenery. London: W. H. Smith & Son. 1849. OCLC 935098203. OL 23463670M.
  • Healy, John (1890), Insula Sanctorum Et Doctorum, BoD – Books on Demand, ISBN 978-3-7523-3423-4 Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  • O'Connor, Denis (1910). Diocese of Kerry and Aghadoe. Vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 19 May 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  • Okasha, Elisabeth; Forsyth, Katherine (2001), Early Christian inscriptions of Munster: a corpus of the inscribed stones, Cork University Press


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