The lough in the twelfth century

The lough in the twelfth century

Lough Derg--History--Middle Ages--Augustinians

"On every side of the island lay the watery fields, winding themselves into inlets and across bays. Great sheets of water, unbroken save by a group of smaller islands that rode like ships that had run to seed and blossom in tropical seas, with the pine-masts budding over the green decks..."

Shane Leslie, 1885-1971

Leslie, Shane, Lough Derg in Ulster : The Story of St. Patrick’s Purgatory, pp. 47-48

Maunsel, Dublin

1909

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Public domain

Monograph

English

Religious History

Text

DD_0024

54.616218, -7.876212

https://archive.org/details/loughderginulste00lesliala/page/2

"On every side of the island lay the watery fields, winding themselves into inlets and across bays. Great sheets of water, unbroken save by a group of smaller islands that rode like ships that had run to seed and blossom in tropical seas, with the pine-masts budding over the green decks.

'Mid these islands of southern sea lay the grim little rock of the Purgatory, without fruit or leaf. Two grey stoned chapels, surrounded by a few poor thatched cottages, marked the spot of the famous prison-house.

A mile down the lough lay Saint's Island, rising out of the water like the ridge of a sunken mill-stone.

The purple girdle of many mountains enclosed lough and islands, and they have changed least. Their rough surface has not given an inch to a thousand years of storm. Then, as ever, the thick heath grew from their crown to the water's edge. Beautiful unburnt heather purple and red and white.

In such surroundings the happy canons could follow out a rule of toil and contemplation to their heart's content. There was endless work to be done in the garden. There were vegetables as well as flowers to be sown and tended. There were merry brown fish to be caught in the lake for days of fast and abstinence. There was the stone flag-way from the island to the little harbour opposite to be built and repaired, which lies under the water to this day. Rough weather and winter found them behind their walls the garden of the soul had also to be tilled."

Monograph