Bangor and the September Gale
Archived: 2 November 2026
Abstract
In 691 CE, the surviving Irish annals preserve a small but revealing cluster of notices: the death of Crónán moccu Cuailne, abbot of Bangor; a raid by Dál Riata upon the Cruithin and Ulaid; the death of Fidchellach son of Flann, king of Uí Maine; and a violent windstorm which drowned about six members of Iona’s community on 16 September. These entries do not amount to a continuous narrative of the year, and they should not be made to do so. Yet, set beside the political and ecclesiastical landscape of the late seventh century, they show an Ireland joined to