Ferns

Ferns Castle stands in the town of Ferns in Ireland, and its first fortress was established by the early medieval Irish tied to the kingdom of Leinster.

A fortified settlement existed at Ferns from the sixth century. In 598 Saint Mogue Clonmore, also called Saint Aidan, founded a monastery at the site and became bishop of Ferns. The town grew in importance as the capital of the kingdom of Leinster and on occasions served as the national capital when Leinster kings became High Kings. Ferns lay beside the River Bann, a tributary of the Slaney. Before the Viking incursions the settlement was described as the largest town in Ireland; after a destructive fire the population and extent shrank by about one third.

In 1158 King Dermot MacMurrough established St Mary’s Abbey, an Augustinian foundation, and he was buried there in 1171. Following the Anglo-Norman conquest of Ireland in the late twelfth century, Ferns came under the control of Norman feudal lords. During the thirteenth century a castle that survives in part today was erected by William Marshal; the account records that this William Marshal was the son of William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke. At roughly the same period the medieval cathedral dedicated to St Edan was constructed.

The medieval cathedral did not survive intact; its ruined remains stand beside the current St Edan’s Cathedral. Queen Elizabeth I made efforts to restore the cathedral, but those works were only partly completed. In 1641 the castle was the scene of fighting during the uprising and suffered severe damage. The narrative records that Oliver Cromwell harshly suppressed the uprising. In the present day the castle together with several churches and monastic sites lie in ruin, and the modern village of Ferns continues on the site of the old fortress.