wrote on 6 October 1970
at
11:53 am
There is still so much that we do not know about the Drumlane priory. Over the past year I have been researching the history of the 'Old Rath Church' in Killeshandra which was built during the 1300's as a dependency of the Drumlane Augustinian priory and first mentioned in 1398 when John McKiernan was the appointed cleric. We do not know exactly why they built the church in a rath overlooking the Town Lake or what happened to the earlier occupants of the rath (hillfort). As a dependency perhaps the Augustinian friars were expanding their parish or maybe they felt that it was wise to have more than one church. One factor which raises its head is the plague of 1348-50 (sometimes called the Black Death) which claimed the lives of up to 50% of the population spread by rats and fleas.