Delight as new St Fechin statue unveiled at Fore

Artist Richie Clarke is being lauded for his statue of St Fechin of Fore installed near the village on Thursday last.

“It is out of this world. It is unbelievable,” says Cllr Frank McDermott of the statue, erected at Bert’s Gap on the Nancy to Nelly Walk.

Mr Clarke used a chainsaw to carve the detailed statue of St Fechin, who was the founder of Fore Abbey and is the patron saint of Fore parish.

To Frank the installation means a lot: “We now have the shepherd looking over his complete flock in our valley.”

The statue is the second piece by Richie Clarke installed along the route of the walk: in August, a seat he carved from a piece of bog oak found in Drumcree Bog by John Kane of Cummerstown was put in place at Nancy’s Gate.

“A while back we saw an opportunity to apply for Creative Ireland funding for arts features on our walk in Fore,” says Frank.

“Both of them are absolutely magnificent and there is huge praise and admiration for them. Certainly from our point of view, the Creative Ireland funding could not have come at a better time and I think it was exceptionally well used.

“Miriam Mulrennan, the arts officer, walked the walk with me a few months ago and we were looking at sites where we could put this and where we could put that and she did a great job of it because where St Fechín is positioned means he is looking down the whole valley all the way to Granard.”

Cllr McDermott thanked former councillor Una D’Arcy for her part in helping the project to fruition and also landowners Bert Fitzsimons and Joe Fagan for accommodating the statue by donating the small pieces of land needed.

“To me it was a great source of pride to see two neighbours doing that so generously, because, as you know, in a rural area land is so valuable,” he said.

To see the new art, all that is necessary is to undertake the Nancy to Nelly walk.

“You start at the car park near the Abbey in Fore. Walk through the abbey, right across the road, along the footpath, in at Nancy’s house and then through the woodlands and the fairy garden and right up along and you come out then at Fore school – and that way you cannot miss St Fechin,” he says.