On the Trail of the Knights Templar in Today's Ireland
Today you will find references to former Templar property even if the property had not been in existence before the order's suppression. A "Templar" church at Ballintemple (County Cork) for instance was only built in 1392. Much confusion might have been caused by the Gaelic teampall - literally "temple", but referring to any church. Seriously confusing amateur historians who like to attribute any place-name with a temple reference to the Templars.
The best documented Templar link still visible today can be found in Templetown (County Wexford) - in the churchyard graveslabs mark the burial sites of "Poor Fellow-Soldiers". Here, near Hook Head, the Templars had lands and houses.
Other Templar sites are less clearly defined ...
- Baldungan (County Dublin, South of Skerries) - some church ruins with what seems to have been a ten-sided tower are believed to be the remnants of a Templar church,
- Carrigogunnell Castle (County Limerick, near Clarina) - parts are reputed to have been built by the order,
- Clontarf Castle (County Dublin) - belonged to the Knights Templar ... but the present castle has no connections left bar the location,
- Dungeel (County Kerry, near Killorglin) - ruins of a church and a castle reputed (and disputed) to have belonged to the Templars,
- Graney (County Kildare, near Castledermot) - reputed Templar-related ruins near the ruins of the Augustinian nunnery,
- Kilberry (County Kildare) - a possible preceptory of the Knights Templar lies in ruins near the River Barrow,
- Roosky (County Louth) - part of the "priory" may have belonged to the Templars,
- Strand (County Limerick) - Temple Strand has a church of almost certain Templar origin,
- Templehouse Lake (County Sligo, near Ballymote) - ruins of a house belonging to the Templars (which gave the name to the lake).
The Knights Templar - Still Going Strong in Myth
The actual fun part of looking for Templar relics in Ireland are the "red herrings" ... which are being taken quite seriously by some folk. Especially in Dublin.
Kilmainham for instance is often touted as a "Templar" foundation, variously referring to the Dublin village, its church or even the Kilmainham Hospital. None of these have any connections to the order - but the Hospitallers were active here.
Temple Bar sometimes is referred to as connected to the knights by virtue of its name ... which actually refers to a land-owning family Temple.
One of the mummies in the vaults of St. Michan's is commonly called "the crusader", sometimes imagined as a Knight Templar - the deceased lived centuries after the dissolution of the order.
And in some circles serious scholarship is totally thrown out of the window and myths are whole-heartedly embraced. The website of the Galway-based Circle of Prayer refers to Irish freemasonry thus: "Their allegiance would be towards the Scottish Rite which has its roots in the Knights Templar, that most evil of organisations."
