Almost 1500 years ago, a child named Ciarán Mac an tSiar was born in Roscommon. He became a priest and, on the advice of St. Enda of Aran, he set off to found a monastery in the middle of Ireland. In 545AD, he picked a site on a bend in the river Shannon in the middle of swamp and bogland. Though the location seemed isolated, however, the site was accessible not only by boat but also by an esker which formed a naturally raised gravel road through the area – the road to Clonmacnoise and to Shannonbridge nearby follows the same path today. Ciarán never got to see the full fruits of his toil – he died a year into the construction of the great monastery at Clonmacnoise, but his legacy – and much of the monastery remains – is as constant as the river it overlooks.His feast day is September 9th.