| Fahan is a small village on the Inishowen side of Lough Swilly five kilometres south of Buncrana. The settlement owes it origins to a 6th century monastery, the ruins of which are within a walled graveyard as are an 8th century cross-slab of St. Mura. The Vikings sacked the monastery at Fahan in the 10th century and again in the 13th century when the monastery was abandoned. Another monastery was built but it was destroyed in the 16th century. During the Plantation of Ulster the church lands were given to the Protestant Bishop of Derry and the ruins were repaired and used by the Church of Ireland until 1820 when the 'new' Church of Ireland was built. During the first World War the 'SS Laurentic' was sank by a German U Boat at the mouth of Lough Swilly and there is a memorial to those lost on the Laurentic in the Church of Ireland graveyard at Fahan. Cecil Francis Alexander, the writer of such well know hymns as 'There is a Green Hill Far Away' and 'All things Bright and Beautiful' lived in the Old Rectory, Fahan in the late 19th century. Her contemporary, Agnes Jones, who trained with Florence Nightingale and nursed in the Crimean War, was born in Fahan House and is buried in the graveyard. The Church contains an early 20th century stained-glass window by Evie Hone which depicts St. Elizabeth of Hungary.© |
 St Mura's Cross. Fahan |
Ís é Fathain baile beag ar an Inishown taobh lé Loch Súilí cuig ciliméadar deisceart de Bun Cranncha. Thosaigh Fathain í an sé haois mainistir, na scrios atá istigh de baile reilig agus tá trasna leac de Naoimh Mura. Scrios Na Uigingeach an mainistir ag Fathain í an 10ú haois agus arais sa 13ú haois nuair a bhí an mainistir fágtha. Bhí mainistir eile chuir suas ach bhí sé scriosta sa 16 haois. Í rith an fáschoill de Cúige Uladh thug an protastúnach easpag de Doire an talamh de an teach phobail, bhí an scrios deisiú agus usaid an teach pobail de Éireann é go dtí an 1820 nuair a bhí teach pobail nua chuir suas. Í rith an cogadh de cead domhain chuaigh an 'SS Laurentic' síos mar buail na Gearmánach í leis U bád ag beal an Loch Súilí agus tá cuimhnitheach de na daoine a raibh cailte suas í Teach Pobail na Éireann reilig í Fathain. Rugadh an scríobhneoir, Cecil Francis Alexander í teach Fathain leis iomann caintic le 'There is a Green Hill Far Away' agus 'All things Bright and Beautiful' conaí sí í an sean reachtaireacht, Fathain í an 19ú haois. Á comhaimseartha, Agnes Jones, traenáil sí leis Florence Nightingale agus bhí ína bailintra í an cogadh chrimé. Tá fuinneog dhaite í an Teach Pobail agus rinne Evie Hone péinteálaim Naoimh Elizabeth den Ungáir. © |