DouEerty—On the Abbey of Fuhan. 97 
XXII.—Tue Ansszy or Fanan. By Wriu1am J. Donerry, C.E., 
M.R.I.A, 
[ Read, February 28, 1881.] 
THE site of the ancient abbey founded by Saint Mura in the sixth 
century, and known in the Irish annals by the names of Fathen- 
Mura, Othain-Mura, Fathen-Mura-Othna, &c., is to be seen about 
eight miles north of the city of Derry, in the parish of Upper 
Fathan, in the barony of Inis-owen, Co. Donegal. 
Adjoining, to the east, the main road leading from Derry to 
Buncrana, the abbey nestles in the ‘‘Bosom of Fahan,’”! one of 
Ireland’s most charming vales. North, west, and east, are seen the 
lofty. peaks of the Donegal mountains; beneath, the blue-tinted 
waters of Lough Swilly*? receive the shadows of the surrounding 
hills, and glint and gleam in the sunlight; while to the south rises 
in solemn grandeur the most storied hill of Ulster—the Grianan of 
Aileach. To become conversant with the facts associated with this 
name, it will be necessary to travel back into the records of our 
earliest Christian history. 
The results of the personal researches of the late John O’ Donovan, 
LL.D., into the history and antiquities of the Co. Donegal, made 
during a visit in the autumn of 1835, are embodied in a series of 
antiquarian letters, the series of which form one of the treasures of 
the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. In one of these letters, Dr. 
O’Donoyan gives many particulars relating to St. Mura, principally 
collated from the ‘‘ Acta Sanctorum,” the celebrated work of John 
Colgan, a native of Inis-owen. Colgan was a Franciscan friar, 
attached to the Irish convent of St. Antony of Padua, in Louvain, 
where his book was published in 1645. He was a ‘ Professor of 
Divinity, an Irish Scholar, antiquarian and Church Historian.” 
O’Donovan, writing from Buncrana on August 25th, 1835, says— 
“‘ Yesterday we travelled through the parish of Upper Fahan, to get 
the Irish pronunciation of the names of the townlands, hamlets, &c., 
and saw the site of the old church of Fathain-Mura. It being a 
fertile district, the Albany have as usual settled in it, to the total 
exclusion of ancient traditions, and to the extinction of the fame of 
St. Mura. I could see nothing in the churchyard that belonged to the 
1 Fathen, or Fahan, in the Irish language literally means a green spot, or 
bosom, and is locally known as The Bosom to the present day, being almost 
surrounded by a circle of hills. ; 
2 Lough Swilly, the Lake of Shadows, from the hills around appearing so 
clearly reflected in the waters of the lough. 
R. I. A. PROC., SER. II., VOL. II.—POL. LIT. AND ANTFIQ. L 
