Council damage to Fore recalled by local historian

Westmeath Council workers in the sixties destroyed a mill wheel discovered by Micheál Ó Conluain, that was possibly the original mill wheel from one of the seven wonders of Fore.Historian Micheál Ó Conluain disclosed this heritage vandalism when he led a tour of the Abbey on Sunday as part of National Heritage Week.Micheál told the assembled group that after an archeologist had confirmed the discovery was a mill wheel, the Council was informed. The Council’s reaction to the discovery was to send workers out with sledge hammers to break up and remove the artefact. Further sins attributed to the Council included the re-siting of St. Feichin’s Well to an area where there was no water and when the sacred ash tree died, the council planted it in the well, which worked out okay as the ash thrived in the dry environment.The banishment of women from Fore was also a hot topic. Micheál told the group that the miller built the mill without water to power it. St. Feichin went to Lough Lene and created a spring to drive the mill but the unfortunate miller was trapped and killed in his own creation when the newly sprung water began to turn the millstones.His death placed St Feichin in a predicament as he had no one to work the mill other than women, whom he had banned from the monastery and the area. St Feichin, it would seem, found it easier to return the miller to life than have to ask a woman to help him.The group were also directed towards the town’s defences of which some of the walled areas remain and told about the sporadic Viking attacks on the monastery and the town.