Benedictine Priory (Site of)

Situated on raised ground in a graveyard immediately N of Kilcommon RC church. The boundary wall of the graveyard along the N, E and W sides have been rebuilt. The ground level drops immediately NE of the N boundary wall and continues to fall gently to an adjacent river. The supposed site of the church (TN039-006001) depicted on the seventeenth-century Down Survey map is completely occupied by twentieth-century graveslabs. According to Gwynn and Hadcock the OS mistakenly identified Kilcommon, Kilnamanagh Upper Barony as the site of a Benedictine Priory, and points out that the founder's lands were in south Tipperary and that Orpen considered that Kilcommon, parish of Caher, is the site. This is taken as the correct identification. Brooks gives the date of foundation as c. 1200, with evidence that the priory continued until the reign of Edward III. It was probably abandoned soon after Glastonbury lost much of its property in Ireland in 1332 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 107). During a recent graveyard clean-up scheme, however, portion of an ogee-headed window was found (pers. comm. Richard O' Brien) which may indicate the presence of a medieval church. The above description is derived from 'The Archaeological Inventory of County Tipperary. Vol. 1 - North Tipperary' compiled by Jean Farrelly and Caimin O'Brien (Dublin: Stationery Office, 2002). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Date of upload/revision: 22 September 2008