Ballyfarnan

Infobox Irish Place
name = Ballyfarnan
gaeilge = Béal Átha Fearnáin
crest

motto =
map

pin coords = left: 58px; top: 10px
north coord = 54.0681 | west coord = 8.1994 | irish grid = G869132
area = | elevation = 59 m
province = Connacht
county = County Roscommon
population = | town pop = 206 | rural pop = 234
census yr = 2002
web = |

Ballyfarnan ( _ga. Béal Átha Fearnáin; Mouth of the Ford of the Alders) is part of the Parish of Kilronan, along with the towns of Arigna and Keadue, in County Roscommon, Ireland. It lies on the R284 regional road on the border with County Sligo. The first Church at Kilronan, Keadue, County Roscommon, was built in the 8th century by St. Ronan and his daughter St. Lasair. It was replaced in 1339 by one built by Fergal O'Duigenan which was burned down in 1340 and replaced three years later by the Church, one gable of which stands today. Sheltered by that gable is the vault of the McDermott Roes, in which Turlough O'Carolan was interred in 1738.

This gable is a memorial to the Gaelic Literary tradition from the 13th -18th century as represented by the O'Duigenans, hereditary erenachs of Kilronan (lay abbots who held church land from generation to generation), and chroniclers (as well as bards and ollavs-hereditary poets) to the McDermotts, Princes of Moylurg, down to Turlough O'Carolan, sometimes styled "The Last of the Bards". The O'Duigenans maintained a School of History on this site. The origin of the bards is lost in the mists of pre-historic Ireland.

See also

*List of towns in the Republic of Ireland