Site of Castle

Traditionally, a church was established by St Patrick at a well beside a rock (Bieler 1978, 95-7), hence the name Ail Fionn or Elphin meaning 'the sweet well by the rock'. The names of the first two bishops, Assicus and Bite, are known, but nothing else is recorded until the Augustinian rule was introduced to St Patrick's in the early 12th century. St Patrick's continued separate from St Mary's Cathedral (RO016-127001-) and is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. doc. Ire., vol. 5, 223). However, by 1442 the community was extinct and the church had been transferred to the Franciscans (Gibley 1988), although some sources describe them as Dominican (Nicholls 1972-3, 37). St Patrick's was suppressed in 1563 and it was described as a church, cloister and dormitory in 1591, (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 175, 249). A palace (RO016-128001-) for the Church of Ireland bishop was built from its materials which became known as the castle, the location of which was identified by J. O'Donovan in 1837 as the castle field, which is also the site of St. Patrick's (O'Flanagan 1931, vol. 2, 5). The Franciscans continued in the Elphin area, even holding a chapter here in 1672, but by the late 18th century they had disappeared from the area (Gibley 1988, 27). No trace of the church is extant and its exact location is not known. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 24 August 2010