A Towering Presence

TERMONFECKIN, a parish in the barony of Ferrard, county Louth, province of Leinster, Ireland. Drogheda is its post town. The surface consists of a moderately productive soil, and is traversed by the river Boyne. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Armagh, value with two others £481, in the patronage of the crown. The church was partly rebuilt in 1792. There are two Roman Catholic chapels, two public and two private schools. The principal residences are Cartown, Newtown, and Black Hall. There is a police station. Good stone for building is quarried. A monastery was founded here in 665, and here are the ruins of Glass-Pistol Castle, once the residence of Dr. Plunket, who was executed for treason.

Not too far from Termonfeckin Castle, seen here earlier in the week, stands St Fechin’s church, alas now standing forlorn and neglected in the midst of a graveyard. Here can be found a sandstone High Cross, some nine feet tall and somewhat weathered but with an unbroken nimbus ring. Above a tapered shaft decorated on all four sides with abstract, interwoven patterns, the centre of the east face…