Welcome to my homepage! This web-site is about my dissertation topic : The Dungiven Priory.
My dissertation sets out to combine both field work and library research to collaborate present information and new thinking as an overall in-depth study of the Dungiven Pirory with special attention on its tomb. Beginnings
So first we must establish to what extent the North of Ireland was the heart of the reform movement? Well in the 12th century the ecclesiastical reform movement can be identified from two main strands of that reform :-
1) namely the tightening of the Diocesan structure
2) and the founding of the new religious orders in Ireland.
This highlights two stories here:
1) the impact of the general reform of the Irish Church in the
12th C in Ireland
2) and the rise of the family of the O‘Cahan’s to control the kingdom
in Ciannacta and who go on to patronise Augustinian Canons.
These two stories take place at much the same time, so it is reasonable to ask whether we should connect them together. If we do, then it is at the Abbey church of Dungiven that they meet.
The Dungiven Tomb
The History of the O'Cahans and the Reform Movement
The Dating of the Church
