Saint Patrick & Names along the Antonine wall

[Nathan Ross]

Nemthur (Not Nemthus as I wrongly wrote) which is given in the The Hymn of Fiacc, which tells us expressly that “Patrick was born at Nemthur ; '

Stranger still, it looks like the Hymn of Fiacc (or Fiech) splits the word into two parts: Genair Patraic i nem Thur.

This could mean (according to some very dusty antiquarians!) that 'Patrick was born in holy Tours' or 'Patrick was born in the holy Tower'.

However, the transcribing of this hymn appears to have been a bit shoddy over the years, so who knows what it originally said... We're probably better off with 'Bannavem Taberniae', although as nobody knows where that was either it all seems a bit academic!