co. ROSCOMMON HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY JOURNAL The Priory of the Holy Cross, Cloonshanville: A fourteenth century Dominican foundation

Yvonne McDermott

Introduction that study and learning would be central to the life of a The fourteenth century has been characterised as a time of Dominican . He had decided that defence and preaching of tumult and unrest in Ireland. Yet in the latter half of this the faith would be the primary concern of his order. To carry century, there is evidence that the situation was not as dreary as out these duties effectively, he felt it was incumbent upon his may have been supposed. The beginnings of the late medieval to study in order to furnish themselves with the in-depth expansion in the orders are evident at this time. knowledge required of them. In addition to their preaching ew friaries were founded representing the first vestiges of a role, the Dominicans, or Black friars, also ministered to the revival in the mendicant order, which would have significant poor and the sick and acted as confessors (Page and Page, 1996: ramifications for the in late medieval Ireland. 882)

Founded in 1385, the Dominican Priory of the Holy Cross is The arrived in Ireland in 1224, the first of one of the flagship friaries in this revival, heralding the the to establish themselves in the country. It expansion of the mendicant orders into rural Ireland to a is most likely that they arrived from England. Their first Irish previously unparalleled extent. The friary was founded by a houses were founded in Dublin and Drogheda (Gwynn and MacDermot Roe (Gwynn and Hadcock, 1988: 223), however Hadcock, 1988: 218). Upon their arrival, the Black Friars Sweetman (1981 ~82: 83) argues otherwise. The foundation of followed the pattern they had established in Europe, locating the friary is indicative of the broader trend of Gaelic and their in the towns or just outside the town walls. Gaelicised families establishing friaries in late medieval Ireland. Early Irish foundations included Kilkenny (1225), Waterford The following will endeavour to explain the impetus behind (1226) and Cork (1229) (Conlan, 2002: 226). The Order of the foundation of Cloonshanvile and late medieval rural friaries Preachers had established 23 new houses within fifty years of like it. In addition, the standing"remains of the friary will be arriving in Ireland. This pace of growth was not sustained for a (I " considered in order to assess its place in the canon of Late Irish number of reasons, resulting in a gap of over fifty years after Gothic architecture. 1305 in which no new Dominican houses were founded in Ireland. In addition to factors relating to the fourteenth The Dominican order century in Ireland, which will be discussed below, this The Dominican Order was founded by Domingo de Guzman, St phenomenon can be partly attributed to the fact that the Dominic (1170~1221). In attempting to deal with Catharists, enthusiasm that had initially driven the growth of the order in one of the heretical groups then rife within the Church, Ireland had declined. Dominic realised that a new approach was needed. He argued that there was a need to reassess the type of religious life A fourteenth century foundation followed by those within the Church and suggested following Cloonshanville Friary was founded in the latter half of the the apostolic life. The Dominican Order or Order of Preachers fourteenth century, one of only four new friaries founded in this was officially founded in 1215 with papal approval and adopted period (StaIley, 1994: 211). A variety of circumstances in the the Rule of St Augustine, Dominic having previously lived in a fourteenth century conspired to produce a situation community of Augustinian Canons. The Dominican order's inhospitable to the establishment of new religious houses. first general chapter decided on absolute poverty, which These include civil unrest in the wake of the Bruce Invasion required individual poverty for each friar but also corporate and visitations of the Black Death. In spite of these factors, it poverty for the order as a whole (Lawrence, 1989: 252). The Dominicans became a mendicant order, in common with the , Augustinians and , committing themselves to a life of poverty, supported by begging for alms.

St Dominic had a clear vision for the direction of his order and planned its pathway well, preparing the order for a future without him. Thus, even after its founder's death, the Dominican order managed to avoid the sort of divisions over interpretation of the founder's rule that would rend the Franci can order. The Dominicans based themselves in the towns where they went out into the market places and preached in the language of the people, in preference to the Latin used in churche. By doing so, they managed to reach sectors of the population who were beyond the grasp of the secular clergy. A Dominican friar was never exempt from study; upon joining the order he became a student for life. St Dominic had envisioned The ruins of Cloonshanville Friary.

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is evident that while building activity had slowed in Ireland in work to draw the friars to rural Ireland. the fourteenth century, it had certainly not ground to a halt. On the contrary, in the second half of the fourteenth century, Fletcher (2001: 70) observes that in late medieval Ireland, we can observe the emergence of a new phase of friary building. there were areas that the secular clergy did not reach. They Fuelled by the revival of the Gaelic and Gaelicised were tied to a particular locality in contrast to the mendicant communities and invigorated by the Observant reform of the friars who had greater freedom of movement. In addition to mendicant orders, this phenomenon would prove to be a having the capacity to target areas that were not being defining feature of the late medieval church in the west of adequately served by the Church, the friars also had the Ireland. incentive to locate in rural Ireland in the form of patronage from the Gaelic and Gaelicised families eager to support the The argument for a lacuna in the construction of religious friars. Pochin Mould (1957: 65) argues that the trend to locate houses in the fourteenth century has parallels in studies of late medieval Dominican priories in towns does not constitute castle building in Ireland. Leask (1951), for example, set a flight from the towns but rather reflects the dispersed rural fonvard a framework for the development of castles in Ireland, nature of the Irish population. The evidence shows that these proposing a hiatus in castle building in the fourteenth century. friars received adequate support to ensure their existence up to O'Keeffe (2000: 44-5) challenges this theory on the basis that and beyond the Dissolution of the . The tower house construction may have commenced earlier than construction of large preaching naves and transepts testify to believed. O'Keeffe also proposes that unrest may not the size of the congregations these rural friaries attracted. A necessarily have posed a deterrent to castle building, citing total of 14 new Dominican friaries were founded in late instances of castle and church construction in twelfth century medieval Ireland in the years following the Black Death. In England during a time of civil war. contrast with the earlier phase of expansion when the majority of foundations were located towards the east and south of the A new phase of expansion of the mendicant orders was to take country, houses of the later phase show a predominantly place in late medieval Ireland. Spurred on by the revival in the western distribution. Gaelic and Gaelicised communities who offered patronage to the mendicant orders, the Dominican friars again began to establish new convents. In a departure from the tradition of The friary buildings locating in towns, the Friars Preachers established the majority When establishing new friaries in Ireland, the Dominicans of their late medieval Irish foundations in rural areas. tended to follow·the iayout ·which had served them so well in i Dominican priories such as Cloonshanville, Urlar (c. 1430) and Britain and on th~ Continent, namely the claustral plan. A l ..,Burrishoole (c. 1469) were founded beyond the reach of towns. or courtyard was situated in the centre of the complex, This begs the question of why the Dominicans, and indeed the with the church located to the south and the various other mendicant orders, would change from their usual pattern conventual buildings arranged around the remaining sides of of locating in the towns when they were so reliant on the the cloister. The Dominican friaries founded in late medieval donation of alms to support their friaries. A location such as Ireland tend to be smaller in size than their Franciscan Cloonshanvile would appear, at first glance, to offer a very comparators. Franciscan friaries such as Moyne, County Mayo, different prospect to Dominican friars used to towns with their and Ross Errilly, County Galway, have large conventual ready supply of people to whom to preach and minister and complexes. Conlan (2002: 225-226) identifies two principal with a sufficient population to ensure continuity of alms. layouts found at late medieval Dominican friaries. The first type, which he terms 'mini-friaries', have compact versions of A combination of factors may have propelled the expansion of the claustral plan and resemble houses of the Franciscan Third the mendicant friars into rural areas. The Black Death had a Order Regular. Examples include Ballindoon, Burrishoole and severe impact on Irish towns; however, there is little evidence Portumna. The second category friaries have a small church as to the nature of its impact in rural areas. The character of with one residential range, usually at a right-angle to the the friars' work brought them into contact with disease and church, producing an L-shaped plan. Examples include caused high mortality in the mendicant orders. Rural areas Kilcorban, Toombeola and Urlar (Conlan, 2002: 226). could potentially offer the friars an escape from the worldly temptations of the towns which had lead the orders from their A visit to Cloonshanville Friary reveals the fragmentary extent initial tenets. Yet the Dominicans had targeted the towns with of the architectural remains. The tower rises from amidst the good reason: to engage with the populations there who were ruins, now the most intact trace of the friary. Even the tower is being neglected by the Church's existing structures. The partially obscured from the visitor's gaze as it is clad with foliage Observant reform of the mendicant orders took place in the late on three of its four sides. In addition to this, other smaller medieval period and involved a return to the poverty and sections of the original friary remain, including a section of the austerity that had initially distinguished the mendicant orders. north chapel (Harbison, 2002: 181). The friary precincts were In the context of a reform which advocated a return to core much used for burials which range from post-medieval to principles and a renewed commitment to ministering to the modern, with a variety of post-medieval grave-slabs to be seen. laity, locating in the countryside to pursue isolation would seem It is, however, the medieval evidence at the site that is of inconsistent with the ideals of the Observance. The Black concern here. Death had a grievous impact on the Continent and the Observant Reform emanated from there, yet there is not a In Our Treasure of Antiquities, Harbison (2002) recounts the parallel trend for rural friaries being established on the visit of Beranger and Bigari to the Friary of Cloonshanville Continent. Some other factor must therefore have been at during their antiquarian sketching tour of Connacht in 1779.

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Even at this stage, the friary survived in an incomplete state examples) and at Clontuskert Priory, County Galway. The with Beranger's account describing the friary as 'much ruined'. same motif also survives in wood on a misericOTd (part of choir He describes the friary as being composed of 'three distinct parts stall) from Limerick . Hourihane (2003: 92) dates which may formerly have made but one building' (cited in these examples to the mid or late fifteenth century. Harbison, 2002: 180). This is reflected on a plan of the friary dating from 1794 held in the National Library of Ireland. Other examples of carving may be seen on one corbel of the Beranger's assertion that these three buildings once formed part crossing arch, beneath the tower. On the moulding, above the of a ingle entity is most likely correct and shows the extent to apex, two carvings may be seen. On the right, an interlaced which the friary buildings had decayed by the time of his visit. cross has been carved. To the left of this is a flower, a motif which is repeated on the adjacent cornice. These appear to be In spite of the friary's ruinous and overgrown state today, it is masons' marks. The interlaced cross is representative of a still possible to d'iscern the Gothic character of the building and fashion in late medieval Ireland for using interlace motifs its relationship to the Late Irish Gothic style which was reminiscent of early medieval art (Hourihane, 2003: 145~147). emergent in the years of the friary's construction. The current At Cloonshanville, these motifs were executed in high relief state of the friary is not conducive to observing structural and are better preserved than the piscina carving due to their aspects of the Gothic style. However, structural features such sheltered location. as buttresses and vaults were not the defining features of the Late Irish Gothic style in any case. Instead, in buildings of this style, the Gothic elements tend to be evident in the window tracery and small scale decorative features. In the absence of evidence for the former, we must concentrate on the various instances of the latter to be found in Cloonshanville Priory.

Mason's marks on a corbel of the crossing arch of Cloonshanville Friary.

Piscina with motif featuring yales in the spandrel on the right hand side.

The piscina in the chapel is topped by an ogee~headed arch, formed by two sculptured stones resting against each other. Thi method of constructing an arch is typical of the Late Irish Gothic style. An ogee~headed arch consists of a double curve which i concave at the top and convex at the bottom (Stevens Curl, 1999: 460). This form found widespread popularity in late medieval Ireland and was employed in windows and doorways in addition to features such as piscinae and sedilia. Carved on the pandrel of the right hand side of the piscina are two animals with intertwined necks. Hourihane (2003: 91~2) de cribes these two beasts as yales and points to carvings of the same subject at Holycross , County Tipperary, (which have suffered less weathering than the Cloonshanville Gargoyle on the tower of Cloonshanville Friary.

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Located high on the only face of the tower where the stonework Lawrence, C.H., (1989). Medieval Monasticism: Forms of is exposed, another carving may be seen below the uppermost Religious Life in Western Europe in the . level of string'coursing. This projecting, three,dimensional Second Edition. Longman, London. sculpture appears to be a gargoyle or water spout. It consists of Leask, H.G., (1951). Irish Castles and Castellated Buildings. a neck and head with a clearly defined mouth and round eyes Dundalgan Press, Dundalk. in low relief. Given that this feature is not concentred on the O'Keeffe, T., (2000). Medieval Ireland: An Archaeology. face of the tower, it is likely that there would have been another Tempus, Gloucestershire. located toward the left hand side of this face of the tower to Page, R. and Page, C., (1996). Blackfriars of Stirling. match it. Additional examples may also have been located on Proceedingsof the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. Vol. the other faces of the tower; however, these parts of the 126, pp. 881,898. structure are now obscured by foliage. Pochin Mould, D.D.C., (1957). The Irish Dominicans: The Friars Preachers in the History of Catholic Ireland. Dominican Publications, Dublin. Conclusion StaIley, R., (1994). Ireland and Scotland in the Middle Ages: The fragmentary state of Cloonshanville Dominican Friary Selected Essays on Architecture and Sculpture. The makes it difficult to imagine how the friary would once have Pindar Press, London. looked, while its overgrown state impairs interpretation of the Stevens Curl, J., (1999). Oxford Dictionary of Architecture. friary complex. Yet there is much that can be gleaned from Oxford University Press, Oxford. what does remain and by using comparative evidence from Sweetman, D., (1981,82). Archaeological excavation at the other late medieval friaries. The use of ogee arches and a tall Cross of Cloonshanville, Co. Roscommon. Journal of string coursed tower compares well with other friaries of this the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society. Vol. period. It is a characteristic of the Late Irish Gothic style that 38, pp. 83,87. ornament is distributed randomly, without apparent regard for such concerns as symmetry. This is evident at Cloonshanville where only one side of the piscina bears decorative carving, while the other does not. A similar phenomenon occurs at Rosserk Franciscan Friary where only one side of the piscina bears decorative carving, while the other does not. This is frequently also the case with Late Irish Gothic windows which may bear ornament on one side but not on the other, for example the chapter room window at Murrisk Augustinian Friary.

The rural location and Gaelic patronage of Cloonshanville Friary distinguish it as an initial exemplar of the late medieval mendicant friary in Ireland. These friaries were built predominantly in the north and west of the country in rural A. BEATTIE areas with patrons from the Gaelic and Gaelicised communities. The friaries would rejuvenate the Church in late medieval Ireland, attracting large congregations and the support of patrons. As an early example of this phenomenon, Cloonshanville no doubt helped pave the way for the revival of the mendicant orders that would follow in the fifteenth FENCING century.

Bibliography Conlan, ~,(2002). Irish Dominican Medieval Architecture. POST DRIVER HIRE In: M.A. Timoney (ed.), A Celebration of Sligo: First Essays for the Sligo Field Club. Sligo Field Club, Sligo. STOCK FENCING FOR REPS. Fletcher, A.J., (2001). Preaching in late medieval Ireland: the ELECTRIC FENCING English and the Latin tradition. In: A.J. Fletcher and R. Gillespie (eds) Irish Preaching 700,1700. Four POST & RAIL FENCING Courts Press, Dublin. BARB WIRE FENCING Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N., (1988). Medieval Religious Houses Ireland. Irish Academic Press, Dublin. CREOSOTED FENCING Harbison, ~,(2002). 'Our Treasures of Antiquities': Beranger SITE FENCING and Bigari's Antiquarian Sketching Tour of Connacht in 1779. Wordwell, Bray. Hourihane, C., (2003). Gothic Art in Ireland, 1169-1550: CONTACT: Enduring Vitality. Yale University Press, London. 090 6489052 OR0812010914

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