Poets Meander

by Colette Quinn
8 months ago
Near Cullyhanna, GB

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A moderately hilly circular walking route on roads approximately 7 miles long. On this walk you can visit the poets glen and Creggan Vale. Three of Ireland’s well-loved 18th century Gaelic poets lie at rest in the graveyard of Creggan Church. The poets, Art Mc Cooey, Padraig MacAliondain and the rapparee poet Seamus mor MacMurphy sleep under the oaks and elms in the company of one of Ireland’s greatest royal families. The church was founded soon after the arrival of the O’Neills about 1450. Henry Og O’Neill built the original church at Creggan and also built their castle at Glassdrummond.   

In 1971, during a clean-up of the graveyard, for the bicentennial celebrations of the birth of Art McCooey, an old, overgrown and long forgotten burial chamber was rediscovered. In the vault were the skulls of more than 70 individuals. Further research ( which the Cardinal Ò Fiaich was heavily involved) identified the remains as those of the O’Neill clan, known as The Lords of the Fews, a barony in South Armagh. There is a picturesque area adjacent to the graveyard known as the Poet’s Glen, where you can enjoy the 13 acres of grassland, sculpted garden and river. The churchyard is one of the most important and historic properties in Ulster.