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| CASTLEDERMOT ABBEY, CO. KILDARE. -The ancient Gaelic name of the locality in which the noble ruins shown above are situated was Disert Diarmada, which means, in English, the Sequestered Place of Diarmid, or Dermot. The term disert was borrowed from the Latin desertum, and means also a desert, wilderness or lonely hermitage. Prof. Joyce remarks that in some of the Leinster counties, the modern word castle has been substituted for the more ancient disert, and this has been so in the cast of Castle-Dermot, situated in the southern end of the fertile and far-famed county of Kildare. Castle-Dermot monastery was founded by Diarmid, a pious son of King Aedh Roin, of Ulidia, about the year 800. During the long wars with the Danes and Anglo-Normans it was repeatedly burned and plundered, only to be again and again restored. Finally, in 1656, the sacriligeous force of warlike barbarism prevailed, and all that is now worthy of notice in the ruins of the once imposing Franciscan monastery, of royal foundation, appears in the sketch. The archways, even in dark decay, are strikingly artistic and beautiful. Some of the windows are also well-preserved and attest the ancient grandeur of the sacred edifice. A deep covering of ivy, the growth of ages, adds to the venerable aspect of the place. The town takes its name, perhaps, from the strong castle built here by Strongbow's lieutenant, Walter-de-Riddlesford, A. D. 1173. |
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