Welcome to our Parish
- Dysart -
Dysart
Dysart is a small village about 6 miles south west of Mullingar. It
is situated close to Lough Ennell. The area around Lough Ennell
is known as Lilliput & was made famous by Jonathan Swift in his
book ‘Gulliver’s Travels’
‘Dysart’ is the English translation
of the Irish word ‘Diseart’. It is
taken from the name of the
ancient parish ‘Diseart
Maoltuile’, which may be
translated as ‘The Quiet
Peaceful Residence of
Maoltuile’. Maoltuile was a
local saint, a hermit, who lived
in Dysart about 200 years after
St. Patrick’s time. A holy well
bearing Maoltuile’s name can
be seen close to the Lilliput
road in Dysart.
Our Parish
Dysart was once part of the Parish of
Churchtown & Dysart. The church in
Churchtown was closed in 1825 & a new one
was built in Loughanavalley. The parish is now
known as Dysart and Loughanavalley. The
original church in Dysart was located about
100m away from the present church and was
thatched. It was used as a school during the
week.
Our Church
Our Church was built in
1854 by Fr. Maguire
and was dedicated to
St. Patrick. It was built
in the corner of
Dunican’s field.
Records tell us that it
was short on space
as there were 2 huts
at the entrance gate,
1 of which belonged
to a Weaver
Schools in Dysart 1.
The first school in Dysart was situated behind the Church.
A site was obtained from Sir Francis Hopkins & a grant
of £25 was obtained from the estate of Mr. James
Hevey, Mullingar, who made provision in his Will, for
education in the Parish of Dysart. The school was 6
feet from the back wall of the Church and it meant that
sunlight could not enter through the windows on that
side. The school had to be erected in this position
because all the sites that Fr. Maguire applied for at that
time were denied to him. This school was demolished
in 1947 when a new school was built on the Castletown
road.
Schools in Dysart 2
Reverand James
Conway was
appointed parish
priest in Dysart
Loughanavalley in
1937. He secured a
site, a gift from
D.E.Williams for a
new school. The new
school was
completed in 1943 at
a cost of £1 500. It
was built of mass
concrete, red brick,
pebble dash & slate
with tile & timber
floors.
Schools in Dysart 3
Our new school was built in 2006. The old school was in very bad repair as
well as being very cramped. Our new school cost €500 000 to build. The
Department of Education & Science provided €350 000 to the B.O.M.
who then built the school under a scheme known as the ‘Devolved
Grant’. Our school is built on Parish land, in front of the Parochial
House. It is about 50 m away from the ‘Old School’ & is named
‘Scoil Pádraig Naofa’
Areas of interest in Dysart
There are many areas of
historical interest in
Dysart. In olden times it
was inhabited by the
Royal Kings of Ireland.
Their most famous seat
was at nearby Uisneach.
They also has a fort on
the shores of Lough
Ennell called ‘Dún na
Sciath’ & about 300m
from the shore is a
crannóg called ‘Cró Inis’.
The Hill of Uisneach is five miles west of
Lough Ennell. From Uisneach it is said
that you can see 20 of the thirty two
counties in Ireland (on a clear day!). It
is known as the centre of Ireland and
from here the island was divided into
it's provinces. This is marked by a great
rock over 20’ high near the rim of the
plateau on top called ‘Aill na Meeran’.
According to tradition the stone was
marked with four lines depicting North,
South, East & West. It was the ancient
seat of the Royal Kings of Meath. This
stone, also known as the Cat Stone, is
said to resemble a cat watching a
mouse. It is a huge limestone boulder
almost six metres high which is
estimated to weigh over 30 ton.
Steeped in ancient Irish History and
folklore, the Hill of Uisneach, is the
sacred site of the ancient goddess, Eri,
from which Ireland gets her name.
Legend says that Eri is buried
underneath the cat stone.
Hill of Uisneach
The importance of Uisneach in early times
is reflected in the large number of
monuments – almost twenty – mostly
ring forts which are scattered around
and upon it. Uisneach is one of the
oldest sites of druid hill fires & the
famous Feast of ‘Bealtaine’ began on
Uisneach once the first fire was lit. The
hill and surrounding land is regarded
as the spiritual and physical centre of
Ireland.
Uisneach has also been famous
as a meeting place in pre history,
as a place of cattle rituals and
other ‘May Day’ assemblies, and
in more recent times as the
meeting place for an important
12th century synod. St. Patrick
and St. Brigid have important
connections with the Hill, it being
claimed that it was here St. Brigid
received the veil from St. Patrck.
Dún Na Sciath