Croziers and Pikestaffs

Despite its comparatively small geographical size, the Diocese of Clonfert, in the province of Connacht, is a treasure house of national and ecclesiastical history and folklore. Its founder was the great Brendan the Navigator who discovered America 1,000 years before Columbus and his ‘doom burdened caravels’ reached there. Clonfert itself became so renowned afar as a centre of scholarly learning that Elizabeth I originally intended to site Trinity College there. The Battle of Aughrim was Ireland’s Waterloo, heralding the Penal Laws and earning the reputation as being the bloodiest battle in the history of our nation. ‘The Siege of Saundersfort’ in Woodford in 1886 marked the climax of the Land War when the people cried ‘Enough!’ to the excesses of landlordism. In Clonfert: Croziers and Pikestaffs: Declan Kelly skilfully reveals the stories of the Diocese. Above all, this is the almost forgotten story of the people and of their struggles, joys, and heroics.