ONE of the most heartening happenings of recent years has been the growth of interest in local history, and its attendant restorations. It is a remarkable phenomenon, which may well be rooted in the comparative safety of local patriotism. It is a way of celebrating one's own place without being forced to feel apologetic about it.
Then too, the local can have greater relevance. Was it not that wise old owl, Tip O'Neill, former speaker of the US House of Representatives, who said that "all politics is local"? And that other lover of place, poet Patrick Kavanagh, who remarked that the parish was the universe?
One place which has experienced a great rediscovery of it self in latter times is Elphin in Co Roscommon. It's a small town, at the heart of a county that has had a book written about it titled The Heart of Ireland, but many people would not have heard of it had not a Catholic diocese been named after it.
Ailfinn (meaning the stone of the clear water) in Irish, is a quiet place, on no main routes, and set in some of the best rolling pastureland in Roscommon. Its well structured and interesting past is being brought to light by people like Mary Gormley, Sean Neary, and Brendan Fox of the local Heritage Society.
Their ambition is nothing less than the rebuilding of the old cathedral in the town. It dated from the early 13th century but was demolished in 1964, in that brash decade when history was dismissed as a thing of the past.
Such ambition has no doubt been encouraged by another group in the town, who successfully set about rebuilding a 26 ft 18th century windmill - believed to be the only inland one of its kind in the country - in 1992. They completed the job last August, when those great arms turned for the first time in 200 years.
But most people who know about Elphin would associate it with three notable personages, each of whom in his own way has been responsible for contributing much to the gaiety of nations.
Claims on Goldsmith
There was the writer Oliver Goldsmith, locally believed to have been born at Ardnagowna near the town, and not at Pallas in Co Longford which makes no bones about its claims on him. His father was a clergyman who served in Elphin, and Goldsmith was educated there.
This "Grammar School" was founded in the late 17th century "for the teaching and instructing of the children of the said town" by Bishop Hodson. Another pupil at the school was Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar. The school which still serves the area, has a reputation as proud as its tradition, and is both co educational and non denominational.
Another native son was the great Percy French, who wrote such wonderful songs as The Mountains of Mourne, Are Ya Right There Michael, Phil the Fluter's Ball etc. A self described "inspector of drains" he was also an accomplished painter. He is reputed to have written his first lines about a scene he witnessed in the now demolished cathedral.
Precocious child
Obviously a precocious, if less than reverent six year old, he saw a mouse come down a bell rope and wrote:
The mouse for want of stairs, ran down the rope to say his prayers.
Other notable visitors to the town, allegedly, included St Patrick and Oisin. Now Patrick has connections with more places in Ireland than the former Taoiseach Charles Haughey, and may have wrought as many miracles, but according to tradition he is not only reputed to have been to Elphin, but to have given the place its name. They say he caused a spring of sparkling water to gush from the ground there, removed a stone from it and gave it the rather unimaginative name of "the stone of the clear water". The well is there still.
Also related to the same period, and according to a translation from an old Irish poem by another Roscommon man - the founder of the Gaelic League and the State's first president, Dr Douglas Hyde - when Oisin returned from Tir na nOg he had many arguments with St Patrick before becoming a Christian. According to the old poem, Oisin lamented as follows:
Tonight is long in Ailfinn
- slow crept the night before.
Slow was today on its weary way
- full long was yesterday.
Each day that comes seems long to me
- not thus, not thus days used to be.
Would I were rid of the life I lead
- O God, what a pitiful state to be in.
Tired are my bones carrying stones
- tis a long night in Ailfinn.
Oisin gave in to Patrick eventually and is said to have been baptised at "the Coshleens" near the town.
Jonathan Swift also visited the town once, briefly. He had this to say about the cathedral: Low church, high steeple,
Dirty town, proud people.
Pithy.
But to the cathedral itself. It was most probably built sometime after the Synod of Kells in 1152, when the diocese of Elphin was established. Certainly it is referred to in records from 1235, where it was recorded as being burned by the Normans. Other written records after that indicate it was repaired and continued in use. In 1433 Pope Eugene IV "granted certain privileges to contributors for the repair and fabric of the Cathedral Church of Elphin, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, which had been greatly deformed by fire".
The first Protestant bishop at the cathedral is said to have been appointed by Queen Elizabeth I in 1584, though others say this took place in the following decade. It was partially damaged in the 1641 rebellion, but substantially rebuilt in 1728, with a tower added in 1757. It continued as a place of Protestant worship until October 25th 1961, when the episcopal seat was moved to St John's in Sligo. After damage in a storm, it was demolished in 1964.
Since 1982 efforts have been made to restore it, and repair its old churchyard. In 1985 the Church of Ireland handed it over to Roscommon County Council, and it has since come under the stewardship of the Elphin Heritage Society.
Grand Ambition
Their grand ambition is to restore the building completely, for use as a museum/theatre/ and community/arts centre. Ultimately they hope it will house what is known as the Cross of Cong, but which is really the Cross of Roscommon.
Historians say the cross was made in Roscommon, and it carries an inscription calling for prayers for the first Bishop of Elphin, Donal O'Duffy. It deserves to be home - in a properly restored home.