Fore Attractions

2.5mi/4km east of Castlepollard, to the north of Mullingar, between two hills, lies Fore, a very ancient settlement where St Fechin founded a monastery in the seventh century. The monastic church (c. 900: National Monument) has been preserved, and in the churchyard are a high cross and a 15th C. tower house known as the Anchorite's Cell, with a 19th C. mausoleum built on to it. The original monastery was superseded in the 13th C. by a Benedictine priory; its fortress-like ruins (National Monument) are 0.25mi/400m away. They consist of a church, two tower houses, part of a cloister, domestic buildings and a dovecot. Not far distant, in the fields, are two gates (National Monuments), relics of the old town walls.