Ireland's Bethlehem

Along the shores of Lough Ree, near the spot where the three counties of Longford, Westmeath and Roscommon meet, lies the little townland of Bethlehem which is untouched by the ages and close to earthly nature, despite the unearthly but soothing chill beside the water around this time of year.

The ruin of Bethlehem convent is on private land, less than 10 miles from Athlone and exists at the end of many crossroads, close to the townlands of Tubberclair and Ballynacliffy, which are both close to the Westmeath/Longford border.  The River Shannon, which emotionally links the north, south, east and west is the stronghold guardian of Bethlehem, keeping its identity of peace and serenity together.

However this townland, called after the Biblical town is sparsely populated, and its land domain is largely untouched by time and man and there are little remains of the 17th century Poor Clares convent that once existed there.

Tagged Cattle graze peacefully beside the water, similar to the Oxen that grazed outside the crib in another Bethlehem, an aeon ago. 

Cecily Dillon, the mother abbess of a convent in Merchant’s Quay, Dublin, originally founded the Bethlehem convent.  Cecily’s family owned much of the Tubberclair area, near Bethlehem. 

In 1630 the sisters were ordered out of Dublin by the English authorities at a time when their community numbered 19 including Cecily and her sister Eleanor. 

These women decided to build a convent on the shores of Lough Ree on land belonging to the Dillon girls’ father, Sir Theobold.  They had been an enclosed order in Dublin and the peacefulness and silence of the land beside the lake must have been a heavenly haven for them. 

It was 1631 before the nuns moved into their convent, naming it Bethlehem.  The very name ‘Bethlehem’ evokes visions of Christ’s birth and a new beginning and this idea of a new birth or re-birth of their convent may have been significant to the nuns, in their naming of the convent.

The Dillon girls along with six of their nieces were among the first 19 nuns at Bethlehem.  Some time later the convent increased in size to almost 60 nuns and they lived a very tough life, which consisted of eating unpleasant food, working hard and living their life through constant prayer.

They obeyed a vow of silence, said the Matins prayers at Midnight, never ate meat nor wore socks or shoes instead relying on the wearing of a wooden sole on each foot.

The decision to build a Poor Clare convent at Nuns Island in Galway was taken at Bethlehem in 1641.   It was accomplished in the following year and is there to this very day. 

At this time the English forces in Athlone was under siege by the Confederates under the control of Cecily’s relation, Sir James Dillon.  The English suffered for lack of food and supplies so went searching the countryside.  Sir James feared the worst for the Bethlehem convent but the nuns held out until the soldiers were close by before fleeing.  This was the second time in a decade the Poor Clares were forced out by the English.

The nuns took little with them and left all personal belongings behind to cross the lake to the safety of friends and neighbours of the Dillons. 

When the English eventually arrived at Bethlehem they desecrated the convent and then burned it.

The story goes that these drunken soldiers, (who had been drinking their fill while they resided at the captured Ballynacliffey Castle, which is only two miles from Bethlehem,) were attacked and delivered to their death by the castle’s owner Oliver Boy Fitzgerald and his merry men.

The English evacuated Athlone in 1643, therefore prompting the nuns, (who had lived with friends and relations in the countryside following the destruction of their convent,) to begin again in Athlone under their former Mother Abbess, Cecily Dillon.  Unfortunately some years later it too suffered under the hands of Cromwellian forces.

Today boats with tourists travel across the Lough Ree shore, with many not knowing that they are sailing close to the area named from the town of Jesus Christ’s birth. 

Muckanagh, Tubberclair, Glasson, Portlick and of course The Three Jolly Pigeons are landmarks close by.  But the name of Bethlehem is not as widely known.

The lake around Bethlehem is rich with pike. Rocks stretch out from the shore to meet the Shannon waters.  Nature has the comfort to exist and grow in this little townland, which is largely untouched.

Nature is at one on this shore with the cold chill of winter in the atmosphere.  And when nightime comes, Christmas is under the starlight.