Abbey in Athlone

The Annals of the Four Masters record the founding of the monastery (WM029-042042-) of St. Francis at Athlone by Cathal Crobderg O Conchobhair in 1224 but this date has been rejected by Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 243) on the basis that the Franciscans did not arrive in Ireland until c.1224-6, when their first house was established at Youghal. The consecration of the church of the Friars Minor of Athlone in 1241 by Albert of Cologne, archbishop of Armagh, suggests that it was not founded until c. 1240 (Ann. Conn.; AFM; Ann. Clon.; ALC). The friary was apparently destroyed in 1567-8 and its site was leased to Andrew Brereton of Monketon, Co. Meath, in 1570 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 243). A Franciscan residence was re-established in 1626 (Millett 1972-3, 161) and in the late seventeenth century, probably the 1680s, work began on a new friary church (WM029-042001-). This building was never completed because of the fall of James II and the consequent political upheavals (Conlan 1978, 79; Grannell 1978, 52-3). This 1680s Franciscan friary church is to be seen on the north side of the town, where it is delimited by the Abbey lane at the south end of the graveyard (WM029-042092-), Abbey road and Coosan Road and the back of the houses in Lucas Lane. Of the five Early Christian cross-inscribed slabs (WM029-042095-; WM029-042096-; WM029-042097-; WM029-042047-) found in Athlone, four were found in the graveyard (WM029-042092-) of the Franciscan Friary graveyard. The cross-slabs date from the mid-eighth to eleventh centuries (Fanning and Ó hÉailidhe 1980). The present 17th century friary curch and graveyard may stand on the site of the 13th century friary which in turn may have been built on the site of an Early Christian monastery (WM029-042050-). Alternatively the medieval friary may have been located elsewhere within the town of Athlone. Grannell (1978, 13) recorded the tradition that the 13th century Francsican Friary (WM029-042042-) may have been located on the W side of Northgate St., on part of the site of the 19th century Athlone Woollen Mills also known as the 'Shannon Mills' (Murtagh 1994, 9,12). According to the Urban Survey of Westmeath the present 17th century Franciscan friary church and graveyard (WM029-042092-) 'almost certainly lie on the site of a pre-Norman church (WM029-042050-), whose existence is attested by the discovery of early grave slabs and traces of an enclosure. This is to be seen on the south side, where it is delimited by the lane at the south end of the graveyard, Abbey road and the back of the houses in Lucas lane (Bradley et. al. 1985, 44). The present remains consist of a long rectangular friary church (int. dims. 20.9m E-W; 9.4m N-S; wall T 0.92m; H 4.5-5m) aligned east-west which stands in the N quadrant of sub-rectangular shaped graveyard now a town park, which was cleared of its graveslabs in order to provide space for a park during the 1980s. The church was rebuilt as part of the park clean up scheme in the 1980s and the graveslabs were removed from their location and placed around the walls and along both sides of the lane to the south and west of the church. The church was built with roughly coursed limestone rubble with alternating long and short quoins, the building has been robbed of all its dresed jambs around the doorway and window openings. The east wall appears to have been completely rebuilt and the only features are two post-medieval recesses constructed to accomodate wall-memorials. The north wall may have had a door near its west end but the masonry is too badly disfigured to be certain; a narrow round arched opening is situated in the centre of this wall and is flanked by two round arched recesses. The west wall shows signs of large-scale rebuilding and has an inserted flat-headed door of brick. The south wall has a blocked-up door at its west end and three round-arched windows with a slight internal splay. A round-arched recess is present between the first-and-second and second-and-third windows from the east; the westerly example has been filled with a 19th century wall memorial (Bradley et. al. 1985, 44).