Clonmacnoise (Irish: Cluain Mhic Nóis) is a ruined monastery situated in County Offaly in Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone, founded in 544 by Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon. Until the 9th century it had close associations with the kings of Connacht. Saint Ciarán founded the monastery in the ancient territory of Uí Maine at a point where the major east–west land route (Slighe Mhor) meets the River Shannon after crossing the bogs of Central Ireland known as the Esker Riada. The strategic location of the monastery helped it become a major center of religion, learning, craftsmanship and trade by the 9th century; and together with Clonard it was one of the most famous places in Ireland, visited by scholars from all over Europe. From the ninth until the eleventh century it was allied with the kings of Meath. Many of the high kings of Tara (ardrí) and of Connacht were buried here. Clonmacnoise was largely abandoned by the end of the 13th century. Today the site includes nine ruined churches, a castle, two round towers and a large number of carved stone crosses and cross-slabs. The Irish government's Office of Public Works manages the preserved ruin. An Interpretive Centre is open to the public, the graveyard is in use and religious services take place in a modern chapel. Geography Clonmacnoise (meaning "Meadow of the Sons of Nós") is situated in County Offaly, Ireland on the River Shannon south of Athlone. History In 544 Saint Ciarán, a young man from Rathcroghan, County Roscommon, arrived at this location with seven companions. (Saint Ciarán is not to be confused or conflated with St. Ciarán of Saigir, patron of Osraige). Here he met Diarmait Uí Cerbaill, who later became the first Christian crowned High King of Ireland. Together they built the first church at the site. This was a small wooden structure and the first of many small churches to be clustered on the site. In September 549, not yet thirty-three years of age, Ciarán died of a plague, and was reportedly buried under the original wooden church, now the site of the 9th-century stone oratory, Temple Ciarán. This location was particularly important because here the major east–west land route through the bogs of central Ireland along the Eiscir Riada (an esker left by the receding glaciers of the last ice age) crossed the River Shannon. According