Stone Church
St Cianan’s Church ruins and Church of Ireland
Duleek (Irish: Damhliag, meaning “stone house or church”) is a town in County Meath, Ireland (here are directions). Duleek takes is name from the Irish word daimh liag, meaning house of stones and referring to an early stone-built church, St Cianan’s Church, the ruins of which are still visible in Duleek today.
Duleek began as an early Christian monastic settlement. St Patrick established a bishopric here about 450 AD, which he placed in the care of St Cianan on November 24, 489. The place was sacked several times by the Norsemen between 830 and 1149 and was also pillaged by the Normans in 1171.
New Church
On the opposite side of the village in the town land of Abbeyland close to the river Nanny and Duleek house there are ruins of the Grange of St.Michael. This grange was established in about 1172 by Augustinian monks from Llanthony in Monmouthshire; the lands were granted to them by the De Lacy family.
The village’s four crosses and the lime tree on the village green are reminders of Duleek’s links to the struggle between William and James and to wider European unrest at the time of Louis XIV of France. One of the crosses, the Wayside Cross, was however erected in 1601 by Jane Dowdall in memory of her husband, William Bathe of Athcarne Castle outside the town.
The Duleek Heritage Trail has been conceived as a series of stepping stones through the village and its long and varied history.
Beautiful Ireland 
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