Steeped in heritage and history, Fahan village will be the destination for guided walks during National Heritage Week from 20th August. Led by Fahan Community Council’s Peter Gurrie, St. Mura’s Graveyard will be one of the fascinating stops along the route.

Home to one of the oldest Celtic covering stones in Ireland dating to the time of St. Columba, St. Mura’s graveyard is also the resting place of Agnes Jones.

Agnes Jones

Born in Cambridge to a wealthy family in 1832, Agnes Jones came to Fahan in 1843 when her Father, a British Army Officer was transferred from Mauritius. She loved to visit the sick and yearned to become a nurse.

She became a Nightingale Trainee in 1860 and qualified in 1864. She was appointed superintendent of Brownlow Hill Workhouse in Liverpool and the improvements and structures that she implemented were taken as a model of good practice and copied nationwide. Florence Nightingale said that she was “a woman attractive and rich and young and witty; yet a veiled and silent woman, distinguished by no other genius than the divine genius”.

Her contribution to the welfare of the sick was enormous. However the work took its toll upon her and she died of typhus fever in 1864 at 35 years of age.

The memory of her outstanding contribution to nursing and to the poor is commemorated in Liverpool. A window in the Anglican Cathedral is dedicated to her memory and a statue to her stands in the Cathedral Oratory.

Agnes Jones is buried beside her Father in St. Mura’s Graveyard, Fahan, Co. Donegal.

In celebration of Agnes Jones and her Fahan heritage, at The Red Door, we have dedicated our afternoon tea in her honour. It’s a simple but great way for us to celebrate a local heroine. Fittingly, the quality of the fresh homemade produce that we offer for afternoon tea is a tribute to the life and times of Agnes Elizabeth Jones.

Heritage walks

The meeting place is the car park of the old St Mura’s Graveyard. The walks are suitable for children and have partial wheelchair access.