The townland we call our home derives its name from the revered Eunan, the sanctified one known in the annals of history for crafting the Lex Innocentium during the seventh century. This was the first-ever known law designed to protect the innocent. Haunting wartime visions of a deceased mother, her child still clung to her in life’s twilight, her cheek dappled with blood and milk, had spurred Eunan to lay down these rules. An advocate for the blameless, particularly women and children slaughtered in the throes of war, these laws commanded that their killers answer to justice. Eunan’s well, the cherished saint’s legacy, turns a deep ebony as the sunsets each winter in our western land. In this part of the world, where the air is filled with the cries of gulls and kestrels, and the waters teem with eels and swans, the well signifies an enduring law. Eoin McNamee, the adept mind guiding the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre, is set to release his latest novel, ‘The Bureau,’ in March 2025.
