I was reminded of my visit to Skryne (beside Tara) when I came across the ruins of a 12th century church in Confey, near Leixlip. It too was dedicated to St Columba of Derry, Kells and Iona. What was the connection? Columba had never been active in that part of the Dublin -- Kildare border.
If anything Confey was in a Norse area. Its close neighbour, Leixlip, got its name ‘Lax-hlaup’ (Salmon Leap) from its waterfall on the Liffey over which salmon could jump but not the Norse boats. They built a settlement there that it is said to be the only inland town in Ireland with a Norse name.
Trying to untangle the 11th century story of Skryne, where the relics of Columba had been stored for a time (its name Scrin Choluim Chille means ‘Columba’s shrine’) led me to discover the story of Norse efforts to expand beyond Dublin city.
That they were active around Confey is undisputed. A great battle was fought there in 917 when the Norse King Sigtrygg defeated the King of Leinster allowing Sigtrygg to return to Dublin after 15 years exile. Six hundred Irish died in the battle.
One of Sigtrygg’s successors was Olaf Amlaib Curan (926 to 981) twice king of Northumberland and twice king of Dublin. He was a leader in Norse efforts to expand outside Dublin and justified his involvement in Irish affairs by claimed a connection with the widely-respected St Columba. He even built churches in his honour.
Did he built the single-cell church in Confrey in Columba’s name? There is no proof but it is a possibility.
Tracing that story made me reassess the Norse. They have a bad name in Irish history because of their brutal attacks on monasteries -- their initial purpose was plunder and the capture of slaves. Around the same time the Irish, despite being good Christians, were also attacking monasteries and killing their fellow Irish. If they thought this needed an explanation they would have said that their actions were purely political, like extending or recovering territory. Unlike the Vikings, they were not in it for plunder. It was the intention that mattered, not the deed. It is an outlook that has not gone away.
If you go to Leixlip today you will find reminders of its Viking past (and that Arthur Guinness started his first brewery there in 1755). Its neighbour, Confrey, is not even a village and has only a ruin at the back of its graveyard as a relic of its past.
Yet a link remains: the Confey people are known as ‘Hillers’ and those living below in Leixlip-by-the Liffey are the ‘Far-enders’.
Photos: A mural in Leixlip town honours its past, the ‘Salmon Leap’ bridge near the site of the waterfall and the hidden ruins of Confey.
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