Fennor means 'fair hill', 'gentle hill'.  It is the home of an old parish dating back to the MlddleAges.  It is mentioned in the papal taxation list of 1291.  There must have been some organisation in the parish to be able to communicate with Rome.

The parish was bounded on the west by Kilcooly and Moyne; on the east by County Kllkenny, and south by Kilcooley and Boulick. Thetownsland of Clonora, though 'cut off' by Boulick, was in the parish of Fennor.  Reverend Edmond Butler was parish priest of Fennor, Boulick and Kilcooley.  He was Parish Priestfrom 1743 to 1765.  And at the same time he was parish priest of Urlingford and Graine.  He was a priest of the diocese of Ossory. 

Speaking of 'the chapel of Boulick' in the parish of Boulick he said: 'there are two other parishes in the district of the Reverend Edmond Butler where of one is called the parish of Kilcooley; the other is the parish of Fennor and he has not a chapel in either of the said two parishes'.  So Fennor church was not in use in 1752.  Father Edmond Butler had a hard assignment looking after the two parishes for twenty-two years.  His successor Dean Philip Ryan of our own diocese was Parish Priest of the two parishes from 1765 to 1805 when the present arrangement returned.

 In the 18th. century the severe penal laws were in force.  Perhaps the three Archbishops Butlers who reined 1712 to 1791, as well as P. P. Edmond Butler -all Butlers -were not so severely treated because their Protestant cousins were very powerful in high places.

 The church in Fennor -recently cleaned of ivy -looks well now.  The two parts of the church, on the Urlingford side, the chancel and the nave, are still standing strongly.  The masonry is somewhat rough, but there is a well carved limestone chancel arch.  The church is not very big. There is a third building joined on to the church.  The ground floor is made up of two groined ceiling chambers reminiscent of the sacristy in Kilcooley Abbey.  There is also an upstairs chamber entered by an outside stairs.  This was very likely the priest's house.

 Fennor church not in use in 1752, nor was Kilcooley.  Boulick were in ruins from 1600 A. D., though Boulick was in use in 1752.  What of our faith in these severe times of test?  Very little service for the people -only one priest for a big area.  Still the faith was kept, and we must thank and appreciate our ancestors for that.  One thing that helped was the twice yearly stations.  The people valued the Mass and the sacraments.  I am sure the Rosary was a real help.  There was relief towards the end of the 1700s, but our martyrs recently beatified showed that real savage danger had to be faced.  Every picture tells a story -so do our ruined churches, like Fennor .

Written by the late Canon John J. Lambe A. P. for the 1992 Gortnahoe/ Glengoole Parish Magazine