placenamesClonfert
Cluain Fearta
Clonfert’s medieval cathedral and the remains of its bishop’s palace form a remarkable group of ecclesiastical buildings in east Galway.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- Cluain Fearta · Irish · main form · validated name
- Clonfert · English · main form
Place & story
The Romanesque doorway
Saint Brendan’s Cathedral incorporates fabric predating 1045, but its richly carved western entrance was inserted around 1160. Six decorated orders surround the doorway, with animal heads among the carved details. Above them, recessed triangles and a small arcade contain sculpted human heads. Inside, the fifteenth-century chancel arch includes angels, dragons and a mermaid holding a comb and mirror. [2]
A building altered over centuries
A chancel was added to the cathedral in the thirteenth century. The western tower and transepts followed in the fifteenth. James Franklin Fuller directed a restoration in 1896–1900 that included new flooring, stalls and pews, the removal of the western gallery and the reopening of arches. [2]
Clonfert House
The former Church of Ireland bishop’s palace incorporates an older house enlarged in the 1630s and again in the late eighteenth century. Its surviving seventeenth-century roof timbers were dated by tree-ring analysis to around 1638. Clonfert House became a private residence in the 1830s and remained inhabited until an accidental fire in 1954. [3]
Geographic information
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Clonfert. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Saint Brendan’s Cathedral, Glebe, Clonfert, record 30410102 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
- Clonfert House, Clonfert Demesne, record 30410101 · National Inventory of Architectural Heritage
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2026-09-19. How this page was prepared.