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| ABBEY ASSAROE, CO. DONEGAL. -Near the old town of Ballyshannon, on the Erne, are the ruins of the time-honored, but hopelessly decayed, abbey of Assaroe, founded in the early twilight age of Christianity in Ireland. Dr. Joyce, a most trustworthy authority, says the name is derived from the circumstance that Aedh-Ruaidh, father of Mocha, founder of the royal fortress of Emania, was drowned at the cataract of the river near this point, and is buried under the mound still pointed out above the falls. These were called after him Eas-Aedha-Ruadh, pronounced Assayroo, and shortened in English to Assaroe. The abbey churchyard, which contains many venerable tombs, is even yet after the lapse of ages, a favorite burial place. William Allingham, the gifted poet of that region, thus pathetically laments the decay of the holy place: Gray, gray in Abbey Assaroe by Ballyshannon town, It has neither door nor window, the walls are broken down; The carved stones lie scattered in brier and nettle-bed; The only feet are those that come at burial of the dead! A little rocky rivulet runs murmuring to the tide, Singing a song of ancient days, in sorrow, not in pride; The boottree and the lightsome ash across the portal grow, And heaven itself is now the roof of Abbey Assaroe! |
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