School: Bloomhill
- Location:
- Cloncraff or Bloomhill, Co. Offaly
- Teacher: C. Nic Annraoi
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0812, Page 465
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- St. Kieran founder of the monastry is our patron Saint. There is scarcely a family in Bloomhill, Ballyduff or Clonascra that has not a "Keiran" in it. In many cases the father and one of the sons are "Keirans".
The ruins of St. Keiran's Church are to be seen in Clonmacnoise to this day. As well as St. Keiran's Church there are six old churches in Clonmacnoise. Hence the place is called Seven Churches. There are many stories locally about St. Keiran e.g. the one about his horse and cow slipping on the criss-cross (already related). When people visit Clonmacnoise they always pray at St. Keiran's grave (he is buried inside his own little Church) and when going away they always take a bit of clay with them from the grave. When they are sowing any crop that they are anxious to grow well, for example wheat, they scatter a bit of this clay in the four corners of the(continues on next page)
