How Ancient is Mayo Abbey?

by
Tom Waldron, Claremorris

First and most importantly, I would like to congratulate the Mayo Abbey Resource Development Company for the marvellous work they have done in researching and highlighting the history of Mayo Abbey. I think it is a very necessary for the development of the area and indeed the further economic activities which will determine the population structure of the future.

Recently I have seen an article, by Fr John O'Connor OSA, in the February issue of Profile which is a Community magazine produced in Ballyhaunis. It showed a map of the road from Ballinlough to Castlebar passing through Balllyhaunis, Clare(morris), Balla and Manulla. Careful examination of the map showed that the road did not pass through Clare(morris). In fact it went from Ballyhaunis to Bekan (High Cross), to Knock (Burke's Pub), to Barnacarroll Hill and on to Brize, where it joined what we (from Claremorris and Ballyhaunis) still regard as the road to Castlebar.

This article supports a theory that has been growing in my mind for a number of years. The Map suggests that the original Road from Ballyhaunis to Brize (as a means of getting to Castlebar) was through Knock/Barnacarroll rather than Claremorris. Could it be that this was the route of the earliest road, or Tochar as has been discovered in Ballintubber?. Could it be that Ballyhaunis was on the ancient road to Ireland's Holy Mountain, Croagh Patrick, where the Ballintubber Tochar as we know it now leads? By careful examination of present Ordnance Survey Maps I have noted that Ballyhaunis, Bekan (graveyard), Kilcolman, Mayo Abbey, Ballintubber, Aughagower and Croagh Patrick are on an exact straight line East to West, give or take 400 yards. Could it be that all these ancient Monastic and Church sites were linked by the Tochar?. It is interesting to note that if this line is continued Eastwards it goes through Melefont Abbey, Count Louth and very likely close to or perhaps through Newgrange itself.

As I pointed out all the Mayo sites are on an East/West line. This means that at the Spring and Autumn Solstice the sun will set right on top of Croagh Patrick if viewed from these location. Indeed many people have seen this phenomenon when the evening of solstice is not too cloudy. Could it be that the ancient Monks used the position of the setting sun as their calendar?. Indeed our fathers and grandfathers used the sun in this way. By observing the setting sun along this path (or Tochar) in Mayo a person, after a few years experience, could accurately tell what time of year it was. Could it be that these Monasteries were located in their exact position to use the mountain topography of the Western horizon as a calendar? The older generations among us tell us that calendars were not generally available 100 years ago. What was the position in 668 AD when Mayo Abbey was founded, or some centuries later when the other Monasteries and Abbeys were founded on that line due east of The Reek.

My theory, which I hold as valid until disproven, is that the farmers (and the monks who guided or ruled them), used the skies and prominent features of the landscape to guide their agricultural activities. This suggests to me that in 668 St. Colman settled at Mayo Abbey because the location of the sunset behind the mountain to the West provided him with a calendar by which he could easily read the changing seasons (when the skies were not too cloudy at evening time). Historians tell us that cereal growing was important some 1300 years ago. This implies the need for a reliable indicator of the time to sow and the time to harvest. In the Spring as the setting sun moved towards The Reek it was time to plough and sow. In the Autumn as the sun moved lower in the sky and set south of The Reek, it was time to have the harvest saved and taken home. In Mayo Abbey the mid Summer sun sets in a little gap in the mountains North of Nephin Beg peak. In Bekan it sets behind Nephin Mór and emerges again North of Nephin's huge bulk to finally set a little further North.

If any readers of this article know where the mid Summer and mid Winter sun sets from any of the locations I have mentioned I would like to hear from them, especially if they can support this with photographic evidence. Indeed I would like to hear from any person who has an interest in the subject.

Comments on this article may be sent to Tom Waldron through "Mayo Alive" at mayoabby@iol.ie

The Nallys of Rockstown in County Mayo, Ireland