Lorrha

Lorrha
Lothra
Town
Lorrha

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 53°05′32″N 8°07′25″W / 53.0922°N 8.1235°W / 53.0922; -8.1235Coordinates: 53°05′32″N 8°07′25″W / 53.0922°N 8.1235°W / 53.0922; -8.1235
Country Ireland
Province Munster
County County Tipperary
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
 • Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Website www.lorrhadorrha.ie

Lorrha (from Irish: Lothra[1]) is a small village at the northern tip of County Tipperary, Ireland. It is located on a local minor road between the R489 Birr to Portumna road and the N65 Nenagh to Portumna road about five kilometres (three miles) east of the point where the River Shannon enters Lough Derg.[2] It is a townland and a civil parish in the historical [3] barony of Ormond Lower. The civil parish borders Portumna in County Galway and Birr in County Offaly. Lorrha is also an Ecclesiastical parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Killaloe.[4] The proposed new Dáil constituency of Offaly will incorporate twenty four electoral divisions from Tipperary North including Lorrha East and Lorrha West.[5]

History

In 843 a Norse expedition led by Turgesius raided Lorrha and neighbouring Terryglass.[6] Close to an historic crossing point of the River Shannon, the area has a long history of bridges and ferry crossings. The present Portumna bridge dates from 1911 [7] (opening section replaced October 2008 [8])

Ecclesiastic ruins

Lorrha has a rich ecclesiastical history evidenced by the ruins within the village. Beside the Roman Catholic Church (c. 1912),[9] at the south of the village are the remains of a Dominican Friary founded in the 13th century by Walter de Burgh, Earl of Ulster.[10] To the east of the village stands the Church of Ireland [11] on the site of St. Ruadhan's church which was built c. 1000 AD and was itself built on the site of St. Ruadhan's Abbey, founded in the 6th century. Remains of two 8th-century high crosses stand in the churchyard.[12] The Augustinian Abbey founded in the 12th century by the Order of Canons Regular stands nearby. The carved head over the door is thought to represent the wife of Walter De Burgh.[13] Water for the monastic settlement was supplied from St. Ruadhan's well located south of the road that passes the present Church of Ireland cemetery.

Lorrha Priory of St. Ruadhan
Lorrha Friary

The Lorrha Missal, a translation of the Latin and Gaelic Missal was transcribed at Lorrha in the 9th century. It is now commonly known as the Stowe Missal.

Annalstic references

See Annals of Inisfallen

Notable buildings

Lackeen Castle

Notable people

Sport and recreation

Lorrha Dorrha is the local GAA sports club. Several well known players have had Lorrha Dorrha connections, see notable people above.

Lorrha is on the route of the Beara-Breifne Way, a long distance walking and cycling trail from the Beara Peninsula in County Cork to Blacklion in County Cavan.[17]

External links

See also

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.