Abbeys and Friaries
Jerpoint Abbey
Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny was founded in the second half of the 12th century. The tower and cloister date from the 15th century.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentJerpoint Abbey
Jerpoint Abbey in Co. Kilkenny was founded in the second half of the 12th century. The tower and cloister date from the 15th century.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentMellifont Abbey, Co Louth
Mellifont Abbey was the first Cistercian Abbey in Ireland, and is situated on the bank of the River Mattock, a tributary of the Boyne, in Co. Louth. It was founded by St Malachy in 1142 with a group of Irish and French monks who trained in Clairvaux in France. The building passed through many different owners after its dissolution in 1539, and was eventually abandoned in the 18th century and left to decay. The surviving ruins at Mellifont are the Lavabo, a chapter-house and a late medieval gatehouse. Excavations have revealed the foundations of other church buildings and a vast amount of tiles. From examination of the tiles, several clear patterns have emerged. Some of these involve animal patterns and others show floral and foliage motifs.
Mellifont Abbey, Co Louth
Mellifont Abbey was the first Cistercian Abbey in Ireland, and is situated on the bank of the River Mattock, a tributary of the Boyne, in Co. Louth. It was founded by St Malachy in 1142 with a group of Irish and French monks who trained in Clairvaux in France. The building passed through many different owners after its dissolution in 1539, and was eventually abandoned in the 18th century and left to decay. The surviving ruins at Mellifont are the Lavabo, a chapter-house and a late medieval gatehouse. Excavations have revealed the foundations of other church buildings and a vast amount of tiles. From examination of the tiles, several clear patterns have emerged. Some of these involve animal patterns and others show floral and foliage motifs.
What was common to the abbeys of these new orders was an architectural lay-out of continental origin whereby a church stood tall on one side of an open square or rectangular cloister garth , the other three sides being occupied respectively by chapter-house, refectory/kitchen and domestic quarters for the monks. The churches were cruciform, having two transepts with side-chapels and with a chancel often vaulted in stone. The Cistercian churches were to be plain and severe, but Ireland was sufficiently far away from the order's French centres to ignore precepts and decorate its churches with geoemetric ornament and even human faces, as at Corcomroe in the Burren, Boyle in Roscommon and Knockmoy in County Galway. There, the Romanesque style continued to flourish into the 1220s, and spread to Augustinian houses such as Ballintober in Mayo. The towers at the crossing of these churches were usually an addition of the fifteenth century.
The Black Death of 1347-50 was one of the factors which led to the decrease in Cistercian building but, because of pilgrimage, Holycross in Tipperary was afterwards rich enough to be almost entirely reconstructed and become the finest fifteenth-century church in the country. Its restoration in the 1970s, followed by that of Graiguenamanagh in County Kilkenny, gives us a wonderful idea of what these churches looked like in their heyday, with white-washed walls providing a bright interior. Jerpoint, Co. Kilkenny, had the fine addition in the fifteenth century of a cloister sculpted with almost life-size figures.
Ballintober Abbey
Ballintober (Ballintubber) Abbey in Co. Mayo lays claim to be the oldest church in which there has been continuous religious celebration. It is also considered the starting point of the Pilgrim's Walk to Croagh Patrick.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentBallintober Abbey
Ballintober (Ballintubber) Abbey in Co. Mayo lays claim to be the oldest church in which there has been continuous religious celebration. It is also considered the starting point of the Pilgrim's Walk to Croagh Patrick.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentThe Dominicans, too, built fine abbeys throughout the country, with Athenry in County Galway, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, and Sligo town providing notable examples, while the mendicant Carmelites also created a number of friaries in Ireland, of which Loughrea in County Galway is a well-preserved specimen.
Gallery
Loughrea Friary
Founded probably in the 13th century for the Carmelites by Richard de Burgo. The church consists of a nave, chancel, tower, south transept and a small south chapel near the west end of the nave. The chancel (not accessible) has a number of 13th century lancet windows in the south wall, and a 15th century window in the east wall. The tower was added in the 15th century.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentLoughrea Friary - Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government
Quin Abbey
Quin Abbey in Co. Clare was built in the 15th Century in the tradition of Irish Franciscan friaries. It is built on the ruins of a Norman castle fortress from the 13th Century.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentQuin Abbey - Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government
Corcomroe Abbey
This well-preserved abbey is picturesquely sited among the grey hills of the Burren, Co. Clare. The abbey is noted for its detailed carvings and other rich ornamentation, which are not commonly found in structures from this period. It features a typical cruciform church facing east, with a small chapel in each transept.
Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local GovernmentCorcomroe Abbey - Image courtesy of Dept. of Environment, Community and Local Government
Athassel Abbey
An Augustinian Abbey at Athassel, Co. Tipperary. Large parts of the church walls and central tower remain, along with foundations of the monastery cloisters and other structures. Grave markers within the church walls attest to the priory's former importance.
Athassel Abbey -
Holycross Abbey
A view of Holycross Abbey from across The Suir
Holycross Abbey -
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