Kilkeary Church is listed in the Record of Monuments and Places of North Tipperary with the number TN021-074001- https://bit.ly/2ZX0Wdb. Historical and Technical information by Archaeologist Caimin O’Brien, National Monuments Service, Nenagh. Received 0-7-8/01/2020. This above link will take you to the NMS online description of the church with bibliographic references and photographs, all available for download. The poor condition of Cill Ciardha (Church of Keary) makes it impossible to be certain about the date of the present surviving building but it is most likely to date from the 12th/13th century. The mention of cyclopean masonry is interesting, could suggest a date around 1000-1100 AD but the presence of large stones rarely indicates an early date for the church. The present building built as the first parochial church of the parish of Kilkeary, on the site of the 7th century nunnery founded by Saint Ciar. 

The poor condition and meagre remains of the church building makes it difficult to be certain about dating this structure. One can only put down the condition of the ruined church to theft and rotting roof beams. The church and graveyard now in the care of Tipperary County Council and there is a local graveyard committee called the Kilkeary Burial Ground Committee which looks after the site on behalf of the local parishioners.

In 1901, surnames in Ireland became altered to simplify the translation of the Irish form into English, for example. the (y) ending in English replacing aigh, aidh and dha. Keary surnames are numerous in Co. Tipperary, Dublin and Westmeath. The addition of an e to the y (ey), as in Kearey, just emphasis the ee sound – a way to assume greater Englishness adopted by immigrants hoping to find work and to afford greater assimilation. Latin was incorporated into Gaelic in about the 6th century. By the twelfth century, the language evolved into modern Irish. In the next century English began to be incorporated increasing word power.

Saint Ciarȧn of Clonmacnoise, who belonged to the first generation of saintly monastic founders, died in 549 AD, over seventy years before Saint Ciar’s birth. Columba, Abbot of Iona, died twenty-three years before and Abbot Adomnȧn died twenty-five years after her birth. These recorded facts give us a time-span, St Ciar was born over three generations after the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and revered by her example, her teaching her saintliness and personal traits afforded her with enough strength to go on and promote her religion and beliefs on a wider scale.

St Ciar was a native of this district, her father Duibhrea, descended from ‘the line of Connors’, Kings of Ireland. To her father’s name was sometimes added ‘insula’, an island – this refers to an island now called King’s Island, surrounded by a branch of the Shannon called Abbey River. Loch Derg’s southern side is in the Province of Ormond - where St Ciar was born. Her great sanctity and many miracles attracted numbers of holy women to share her monastic life

The name of this district was written by ‘The Scholar of Aegus’, as Cill Cheire, the church of St. Kera or Cera (Church of Keary); it is situated in the ancient Muscraidhe Thire, the Upper and Lower Ormond. In Aegus written, 'Ciar Ingen Duibhrea’, (referring to St. Ciardha), daughter of king Duibhrea, who was the local clan chief.

The O’Ciardha, one of the family groups that made up the Muscraidhe Tribe which populated central and south/west Ireland east of the River Shannon. The aristocratic family Ui Raibre thought to own Cell Cére (Kilkeary) St. Ciar, who was also of the family, founded the church and nunnery.

What is important to this story is that it introduces my Irish name and it is to St Ciar that I have to thank - my name is an abbreviated form of Máel MacGioha Ciar – ‘as one of her devotees or followers’. The family name Ciardha/Keary established from the naming of the saint, in about 650 AD - making a close connection between the church and the secular head, king Duibhrea or Duina, reflected in the early writings.

 John Colgan, Ireland’s national hagiographist (Writer of saints’ lives & legends) Bibliography: Colgan, Triadis Thaumaturgae (Dublin 1996). Sharpe, ‘Medieval Irish Saints' Lives: An Introduction to Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Oxford 1991). c. plummer, ed., Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Dublin 1997), gives: “That at the request of St Brendan, patron of Clonfert, this holy virgin, St Ciar, by her prayers, extinguished a pestiferous fire which had broken out in the region of Muscraidhe Thire.” Saint Ciar, an Abbess, founded her nunnery in Tipperary, north Munster, the area now known as Kilkeary, north Tipperary. It would appear that St. Ciar, by her name, family associations, and will, provided the use of her name to create Ciardha.

St Ciar’s nunnery grew to house thirteen postulants in about 645 AD. This settlement, in Upper Ormond, appears to have been the only one established during the early Christian era in that area - later defined as ‘in the diocese of the bishop of Killaloe’ With this number of nuns, there would be a back-up number of helpers, friends, relatives, workers, crofters and supporters. There must have been a considerable population in and around the nunnery - a monastic community so described by Dr Richard Sharpe in the Life of Columba.

According to Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae - a book dedicated to the saints of Ireland, we commemorate Saint Ciar as patron of the parish, which bears her name - Kilkeary, County Tipperary (today’s crossroads, graveyard and school). John, Canon O’Hanion (1821-1905), gives us an insight into this holy woman and monastic foundress. The Parish of Kilkeary is in the Barony of Iffa and Offer East, in the Diocese of Lismore and County Tipperary. Dr Richard Sharpe gives a most readable account of the life of a saint in his book Adomnȧn of Iona Life of St Columba.

Life in a religious settlement is described in the Life of St Columba giving us an idea of the building and surrounding land, the nuns sitting round the fire, reading religious scripts, a guest house where visitors could stay and a store house needing to be restocked. The use of a cemetery, graves marked with a stone and the erection of a cross. All these early buildings and their uses can be easily imagined very little different to life in any community of the time or place. BBC Time Team programmes ably draw a picture of the period. St Ciar’s nunnery perhaps supported by king Duibhrea would have been a centre of the community.

Monks arriving from other European countries had a knowledge and understanding of Christian teaching and Latin. They were there to persuade the Irish leaders of a more superior way of life. To do this they glorified God explaining that salvation earned would give the converted everlasting life. Their task was successful giving themselves time and place to settle down and to build a base. It was a natural progression for the monks to copy the bible and religious tracts to regularise the curriculum and to help their mission forward. It is from these early writings that our story takes shape.

The religious order begun to take over some of the power of the Brehons. Finnian died in the plague about ten years after the foundation of Clonard. By then both Ciaran and Columba of Terryglass were in their twenties. Saint Ciaran of Clonmacnoise from Connaught was the founder of the Abbey near Lough Ree and Columba, the greatest of the later generation of monks, founded Iona. St Ciaran was another of The Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He died on the 9th September 546 AD, at the age of 32 - buried in his little church attached to the Abbey.

The rural society of this time was not one based upon towns or villages but ring-forts, lake dwellings and later, monastery-settlements. The people populated smaller communities of much cruder construction with little or no stonework but simple pole houses often with an open roof, built on an earthen mound with ring ditches and offset entrances.

Life for the Ciardha family based upon the group or sect following the accepted position of the chief or head. The senior or chief would have won his position by strength of arms alone. His position was not automatically passed down to his son, but offered to the strongest in arms. Young men won their spurs position in the group’s hierarchy by the number of cattle stolen or greatest fear wrought upon their neighbour. Common security awarded by promised payment guaranteed by bond. Therefore, you look after me, I will look after you, and we will share any prize/spoils together. It was a rough tough world with no quarter given.

Ireland changed dramatically when Mac Erca (Muirchert ach mac Muiredaig, died c. 534, as High King of Ireland). Up to the twelfth century, the monastic bodies were all under the Rule of Columba 544 AD. St Ciarán, one of a number of Benedictine monks who were the first saint-founders. Between Mac Erca’s death and the arrival of Patrick Christianity became the established power base governed by Bishops. It was during Mac Erca’s time there were mass conversions covering all Irish society. Several of those Bishops stood up to the power of the lords and probably the greatest of these was St Ciarán, the ‘smith’s (carriage-wright) son’, from Enda’s Aran who founded Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly, in 545 AD. He was one of the principals of the synods of Meg Léne at the time of ‘Diarmait the Good’, one of the great kings of Ireland. Columba commented wryly at the time of Ciarán death:

“Blessed is God who called Ciaran from this world in his youth.

If he had lived to an old age, he would have aroused many men’s hostility”.

Most rulers had a very strong link with the church – a clan chief could also be a priest, as could a lord – one position did not have greater importance than any other did. It would not be cynical to suggest that clan chiefs saw this as an easy way to achieve salvation, maintain order and hold onto their position; the church saw the close connection as a means of converting the chief’s subjects. If a member of the same family could hold these positions, then it all became very convenient and worthwhile. It is not surprising to find that some families held these offices for generations. What was important to the common people was that the coming of Christianity quietened down the acts of vandalism, theft, and petty wars giving stability and greater unity. What that also did eventually was to give the church equal if not then later greater power which lasts till today. In England it was that power: the land, buildings, gold, obedience, sanctity, gift of everlasting life forced Henry VIII, to literary smash, allow him to do as he pleased.

St Ciar’s church elaborately decorated, especially around the altar; the walls painted to depict the apostles and the single roof span covered with split stone slates. For the period, this represented a building of influence and authority, a dwelling that catered for a number of nuns, visiting pilgrims and the needy, particularly women. The land close to the church adopted as a burial ground for the local clan, which is there plainly for all to see.

Kilkeary today is a parish, in the barony of Iffer and Offer East in the Diocese of Lismore and County of Tipperary - a Province of Munster, 4 miles south-east from Nenagh, on the road to Cashel; it comprises 2524 statute acres; the land is generally good and mostly under tillage. Greenanstown House is the seat of Count D'Alton. The parish is a rectory, forming part of the union of Ballynaclough and corps of the deanery of Killaloe. The ruined nunnery and today’s graveyard and school sit close upon the crossroads, a microcosm of its past life.

The family O’Ciardha (Keary) formed about the time St Ciaran died in 549 when Columba was a young man.

The Northern Ui Neill: Cenel Conaill. An early monastic founder was St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise.

King Duibhrea or Duina, a minor king, Holy Island, North Tipperary.

Saint Ciar, canonized daughter of king Duibhrea b620 AD.

Mael MacGioha Ciar, (a follower of St. Ciar).

O’Ciardha – sept adopted family name. (Ciar – black)

St. Ciar, Abbess (monastic place name) Kilkeary, d679 AD.

Family, sept Cenel nEogain, king Muirchertach mac Muirelaig descended from Eoghan eldest son of Niall included Ua Ciardha.

Lords of Carbury.

Maelruanaidha O’Ciardha, king of Cairbre d993 AD.

Cairbre O’Ciardha maintains family history 993 – 1176 AD.

Abbot Adomnan of Iona, belonged to the Ui Neill his successor Conamail died in 704.

O’Ciardha of Cairbre were poets of Clan Niall.

The young men of the family in ancient times were putting themselves in danger by stealing cattle to the extent that there would be fights, injury and death this would leave young women without security. The society had a surplus of young women who gladly found succour at St Ciar’s nunnery. These women nursed the sick fed the poor from food bred and grown by themselves and tended the elderly.

The O'Ciardha clan was one of the family groups who made up the Múscraighe Thire who populated central and south/west Ireland – south east of the river Shannon. The aristocratic family Uí Raibne reputedly owned Kilkeary close to Nenagh. St Ciar who was also of the family foundered the church. Cousins held the churches of Dromineer, Toomevara, and Kilaughnane. These religious houses all situated close to the rich pastures that line the east shore of the river.

Written evidence of the time is unavailable and even later the scribes who did write of the times had no common language. We rely upon those Latin writers for Irish history although far removed from the local people and their habits. Therefore, please excuse me for I am little better, my translation is faulty, I attribute things badly, the gap of two millennium casts long shadows and there are few clues to go on. One last explanation before I start… in the year AD 664/5 a Great Plague swept through Ireland wiping out many monastic populations. The centuries between the sixteenth and nineteenth were equally destructive to both the population and clergy during which the supporters of Henry and Cromwell later took their toll.

Other aristocratic branches of the family held smaller foundations whilst some of the family settled at the great monastery of Birr. The Uí Daigre, yet another branch, held the church of Latteragh and claimed that Odrán, its founder, was one of them. Uí Léinéne was a family of Uí Daigre, and as late as 1074, the annals record the death of Gilla Brénnainn Ua Léknine, Superior of Letracha Odráin. The Ciardha clan not only lived and ruled a large tract of central Ireland, were leaders of the church and provided armed men to support the High King of the period. Terryglass, Co. Tipperary was also an important religious building on the east side of Lough Derg fed by the river Shannon. The monastery founded by St Columba of Terryglass. The Shannon and its lakes were circled by a number of communities all using their dugout canoes (coite or cimba) to plunder their neighbour’s stock.

Founded by Saint Patrick Armagh remained the most important of all his monasteries. The Irish word for Abbot is comarba – meaning heir. Therefore, his is the heir of the founder. In many instances, the heir was also of the same dynastic family – the same kindred - the link between the founder and the patron. 

A nunnery had much the same architectural layout as a monastery. The heart of the complex was still the attached cloister ran around an open space encompassing most of the important buildings - such as the church, the refectory for communal meals, kitchens, accommodation and study areas. There might also be accommodation for pilgrims who had travelled to see the holy relics the nuns had acquired and looked after (which could be anything from a slipper of the Virgin Mary to a skeletal finger of a saint). Many nunneries had a cemetery for staff and another for lay people (men and women) who paid for the privilege of internment there after a service in the chapel.

The church did not suppress Gaelic (Irish) but retained part of it within Latin. The monastic libraries kept these works and preserved them. This liberal attitude reflected in the church’s writings but in the religious services. Clerics used Irish in their studies and teaching, consulting a written grammar of the Irish tongue. Whether they knew what the outcome would be is not clear but it made secular and clerical writing universally greater than English.

The monasteries and nunneries housed the teachers of Latin. Their ringed stonewalls, built on a rampart mound, and gave security and isolation from the unsettled land around. These cashels were every bit as defensive as the lord’s castle, a place where the whole community could shelter. This was no haphazard arrangement but a place declaring wealth and power.

Books the monks copied initially written in continental Europe. Trade flourished between countries nearest Ireland. This was not just normal trade between Britain, France, Spain and Ireland but religious sustenance as well. All religious houses had a scribe who attended to the matters of the day. In other times copied out books of learning, circulated to create a library elsewhere. A Psalter, known as the Cathach attributed to St Colum Cille, written at about the time St Ciar was performing her good works. The Irish missionaries travelled on the continent baptising Germans and Austrians building up the faithful as they went. They went on pilgrimages ‘seeking salvation and solitude’ evangelising pagan people preparing a way for later monks to build upon.

It was not always the case that an Abbot was a bishop who governed a diocese or administered a tribe’s territory there was no such organization these things were interchangeable. This company of Christian women who formed the foundation of St Ciar’s community in Upper Ormond in 645 AD, named after her, attending ‘Cill Cheire (Church of Keary).’ It was here that she ruled with considerable skill, increasing the postulants - giving the foundation credence and sanctity.

St Ciar’s veneration was no trifling matter. To be officially recognised and canonized means she was accepted by Rome and worthy of obedience. This allowed St Ciar to expect her followers, in matters of the church and women, obeyed. Being a daughter of the king added to her power and prestige. This link between king and church made it easier to assume and hold onto power. This close association between the ruling body, either local or national, and the priesthood is a feature of early religious foundations. It was in both their interests to have this close connection keeping power centralized and necessary, but also greatly assisting religious foundation.

When the nunnery at Kilkeary was well established and capable of self-regulation she left, accompanied by five nuns, to start a new foundation in North Offaly, King’s County, where she obtained a site for another nunnery from St. Fintan.  It was in a place now known as Tehelly, in the parish of Durrow, formed in about the year 655 AD. This was close to Clonmacnoise and St Ciaran’s Church. The original foundation continued to flourish and minister to the local people.

Following the tidal river north, from the mouth of the River Shannon, you come to a Lough called Derg – the settlement of Killaloe occupies the land at the mouth to the Lough. The great river continues through the lough northwards, to Clonmacnoise, a wealthy, sixth-century fort-like monastery built of stone before entering Lough Ree… then onwards... upto Carrick on the Shannon. (The spelling is lough for Irish and Loch for Scottish.) Lough n loch m3; Lough Derg Loch Dearg or Deirgeirt; Lough Erne Loch´Eirme; Lough Neagh Loch nEathach: Belfast Lough Loch Lao.

It did not matter where St Ciar travelled her title to property and obedience went along with her. She and the bishop, who was son of the king of Munster, jointly ruled the church. An early law tract refers to the bishop of Cork and Emly as uasal-epscop, giving them a status equal to the king of Munster - who was overlord of the southern half of Ireland.

Later, St Ciar (Canonized Pre-Congregation) returned to Kilkeary where she was reputed to have died of natural causes. Little known of the subsequent history of the nunnery or of her burial place.

Her death recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters January 5th 679 Rewritten by John O’Donovan, LLD., M.R.I.A. Barrister at Law, Second Edition 1856. The following stanza is from Leahhar Breac, the Book of the MacEgans – Irish Pedigrees (Learned Brehons and historians) by John O’Hart, 1892 (fifth Edition) It seems quite remarkable that someone like Saint Ciar  who has recorded history can be so utterly lost in historic scriptures that even the name mis-spelled.

‘The call of Semeoin, the sage,

To Christ of purist…

A new, transitory, gentle nun was

Ciar, the daughter of Duibhrea.’

It was in the middle and latter part of the first millennium that proper written records kept. ‘The Irish Annals.’ Their genesis, evolution and history, by D.P.McCarthy, senior lecturer in the department of computer science and a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. Book of Kells, illuminated manuscripts, (This book was to be kept on the altar of churches and monasteries in ancient times) written and illuminated c.800 CE. Rewritten by Joshua J. Mark, and ‘The lives of the Saints’ written in 1577, first published 1579, by Skarga are three sources of early recorded history - written by scribes in Latin - the result of intended missionary zeal by Christian bishops and their scribes.

Gildas developed Latin literature in a style and order fit for publication. His paragraphs, sentences and words were impressions build upon the spoken word – placed together by sound and syllable. The language was from Europe but based upon English. As Ireland was the first large country to become Christian outside the Roman Empire, scholars had to write the Irish language, in Latin characters. They were compelled to write with an alphabet. Ogam notches became outdated in the seventh century Latin preserved the first written records. This is when the K used especially by mapmakers. Thereafter Latin began to be changed - English, Welsh and Irish adapted and added to – developed into Irish modern literature.

Ciardha is the Gaelic spelling of the family name or clan - used by scribes in about 650 AD. Later writers increasingly used Cary, Carey or Keary as a more identifiable written form. The written Irish-language mainly derived from Latin and assumed closer integration to the accepted form of spelling and pronunciation in the sixth century - probably when the K used in written texts. In its softer anglicised form of Cary or Carey, it is natural not to make the difference so hard.

What era or part of the country ‘K’ rather than ‘C’ used, is unclear perhaps the use of K (as in kick, in the Gaelic Q form) happened when the Gælic Cill (church) was replaced by the Latinized Kil - for place-names on maps – hence, Kilkeary and Kilkenny. Most place names are in that form. The method of spelling might indicate who commissioned the work, when, and for what purpose.

The history about the right language and spelling of a family name explains what happened in Ireland that caused such disturbance and distress. The clan chiefs, Anglo-Irish aristocracy, their upstarts, the invaders, clerics and politicians may deserve censure, for the chaos that marks the islands history, but the people certainly do not. The derivations of a name throughout the centuries give proof to the matter. In this instance, from Ciar to O’Ciardha, Cheire to Carie, Carey, Keary and Kearey.

This unity under Gælic kings, represented by Ui Neill, continued for nearly two-hundred years, until the Normans invited to save the then ruling body. From this moment, Gaelic Ireland began to lose its identity and power base. This call, to an outside body, was to have far-reaching effects – ultimately and not reversible. This was the downfall of Ireland it allowed the Normans to assume not just power by invitation but ‘of a right’. Richard FitzGilbert de Clare, Strongbow, promised payment for saving the Irish throne for O’Neill. Strongbow claimed in full, giving estates to followers and those who had supported him. By 1300, the Normans controlled most of Ireland.

The O’Ciardha (Cary or Keary) clan were a senior branch of the Cenel Cairpri, descended from Cairpre populated the central southwestern areas of Ireland, an ancient Gaeilge warrior kingdom speaking Gaeltacht. The chiefs of clan O’Ciardha closely related to the supreme ruler of southern Ireland they were minor kings, ruling that part of southern Ireland located just below Lough Derg in today’s northern Tipperary. 

‘O’Cary rules over Carbery of bards,

He is of the tribe of Niall of the nine Hostages,

There are none but themselves there,

Of the clans of Niall over Leinster.

The main clan lands were Slievefelim or the Silvermine Mountains and Hills in the kingdom of Munster, not far from Ossory… They were a senior group controlling a vast area related to Ui Neill. Another branch lived further east, inhabiting Carbury, Co Kildare. This extended family grouping - Cairbre Ua gCiardha, were also a prosperous family with many cattle.

The ancient site of St Ciardha’s monastic house built in a valley between Nenagh and Toomyvara, and the two mountains Slievekimalta and Devilsbit. To the north, lies The Central Lowlands: an area of farms, market towns, peat bogs, glens, and lakes. Before intensive cultivation, the land heavily forested. With the growth of many settlements the nearest navigable river influenced their development; in this case it was the river Shannon and in particular Loch Derg, five miles north of Nenagh; it’s southern banks bordered Lower Ormond and Arra and Owney. The family territory roughly conforms to the centre of the country - an area of hill and lowland. It was bogy-free down-land, rich in minerals and well drained and hedged. This central part of the land, split between cousins - into east and west groups. Unfortunately, both groups suffered from several competing branches, which weakened the power base. The eastern cousin’s centre was at Cashel, and the other, the northern group, the Lower Shannon; it was to this area that the king had over lordship – suzerain, of the Ostmen of Waterford and Limerick, including their two important cities. This large area conforms roughly to today’s Co Tipperary. 

The central/southern Uí Néills, (Ui means’ children of’, a term of gentility - denotes those of the ruling family). This is a much older form than Ó or more strictly ‘Ua’. O’ means grandchild linking to a previous generation. It was to this branch of the Ó’ Néill’s that the Ó’ Ciardha clan became indelibly linked. The Keary clan were a ‘sept’ (sept, n. Clan, esp. in Ireland. (F of septevar). ‘Of Sect’ describes minor Gaelic/Irish ruling families or clans, or divided clan (clan, n. Scottish Highlanders with common ancestor, esp. while under patriarchal control (f. Gael. Clan f. L Planta) groups. In early times individuals were only known by one name. As the population grew another name was added - this gave individuals a family name. To then advance this system an O’ was added to make an even greater linkage to a group or clan. As clans were displaced by interclan wars splits occurred in the clan. Still keeping their name and traditions families began to form in differing parts of the country. The stronger and more warlike the chief the greater the pressure on his neighbour. After the first millennium AD the language formed into the written word for the first time. This noted social happenings and to whom – history was in the making. Irish dialects began to be developed especially around main clan structures in particular counties. 

This allegiance between the O’Neill’s and the O’Ciardha continued until the latter lost all their clan lands over a period of six hundred years, ending at the same time as the restoration of Charles II - after Cromwell’s death. (Planta, n. English settler, on forfeited lands in 17th c., person settled in plantation). 

Edward Maclysaght’s, More Irish Families, 1982, p50, agrees that the majority of those called Carey (or Keary) belong to the O’Ciardha a senior branch of the Cenel Cairpri. It can be seen that whether C or K used it refers to the same people.

In all research into genealogical connections into the O’Ciardha, certain names are always cropping up; in particular, O’Meara, O’Kennedy and O’Carrolls. Toomevara parish contains the districts of Agnameadle, Ballymackey, Kilkeary, Templedowney, and Ballygibbon. It has three ancient ecclesiastical ruins one of which was an ancient foundation for women established by St. Ciardha. There are also several ruined castles, some habitable, others not, being just ruins. The name of this district was written by ‘The Scholar of Aegus’, as Cill Cheire, the church of St. Kera, Cera, or Ciar (Kilkeary - Church of Keary) situated in the ancient Muscraidhe Thire, the Upper and Lower Ormond. In Aegus written: 'Ciar Ingen Duibhrea' meaning: St. Ciardha, daughter of king Duibhrea. The cemetery used by the Ciarraighe - Luachra tribe, in Upper Ormond, not far from Roscrea, and Kings Co.

The ancient church of Kilkeary was built about 625AD, 57 feet long, and just over 19 feet wide. It is now in ruins having all its features destroyed except for a few massive stones – one of several tons. Built in a semi-cyclopean style of Lange limestone rocks in the seventh and eighth centuries. In the graveyard is a monument to Major General Sir William Parker Carrol of Ballygrenade, a descendant of the O’ Carroll’s of Ely. In 1702, an earlier member of the family buried here. General Carrol was from Lissenhall, on the far side of Nenagh Town and had a very distinguished career in the Spanish Army fighting under the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars. He was highly thought of in England, married an illegitimate daughter of George III. William was also a Politician who petitioned for the separation of the Northern and Southern Grand Juries in the county, in the 1830s. The fact that the Carrols used the Kilkeary graveyard – the site of the nunnery, was in keeping with Gælic tradition. The Carrols, Kennedys’ and Meara were all inhabitants, south of the River Shannon. When the O’Ciardha were being harassed, then evicted, some transferred allegiance to the security of these families - who welcomed them as brothers in arms. 

The nearest large town to Kilkeary is Nenagh, seven miles west; an important centre for its Anglo-Norman association and Franciscan Friary, which Kennedy founded in 1240, and Cromwell destroyed, in 1650. It was one of the new walled towns designed in 1171… the citizens fearing incursions from warring factions lent a hand with the building… the town council passed a law whereby every person – including: shop owners, priests and women. Every person was allotted a day in the week that each had to help in building the town walls. Toomyvara, a pleasant small market town, lies four miles east, lying astride an important crossroads.   

The Vikings, 795AD – Scandinavians called Norsemen, most likely from Holland, pillaged and plundered coastline and river settlements around Ireland and Britain… building fortresses at Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick - the main towns of Ireland. These guardians of main river inlets, sometimes titled kings, were tribal chiefs or earls… in no way could they be described as rulers of large tracks of the countryside. They lived in stone houses with a surrounding wall punctured by fortified gates.