Quin Abbey ( in ruins) — Quin

Situated on a W-facing slope on the E bank of the River Rine at the NE edge of Quin village, Quin Friary (known locally as Quin Abbey) is built on the burnt-out ruins of an Anglo-Norman de Clare castle (CL042-027001-). In 1280, the Anglo-Norman Sir Thomas de Clare commenced work on the castle at Quin. In c. 1285/7 Covea MacNamara stormed and burned the castle in revenge for the death of a chief named ‘O’Liddy “of the broad shield”’ and his brother. The remains of the earlier castle are still visible as they were incorporated into the friary, with the foundations of the rounded NE, SW and SE corner towers of the curtain wall surviving to varying degrees. The lower portions of the curtain wall adjacent to the NE tower also survive. No attempt was made to rebuild the fortress (Ua Cróinín 2014). Maccon Mac Conmara established a house at Quin for the Franciscan friars in 1433 having obtained a papal licence (McInerney 2014, 125). The friary was founded on an earlier house built by Síoda Cam Mac Conmara in 1402 (ibid.). Quin remained under the jurisdiction of the Conventuals until it was officially dissolved in 1541. The friars continued to live at Quin under the protection of the earls of Thomond. The abbey and lands were granted in 1543 to Conor O’Brien, Baron Ibracken, who, like all his family, protected the friars. Five years later - 1548, September 18 – it was granted to Teig M'Conor Brien and Tirlagh O'Brien of Dough. The friary became Observant when a community was reconstituted there in 1612 (Ó Clabaigh 2012, 66). Donatus Mooney, provincial of the Irish Franciscan province, visited in 1616 and noted Quin as ‘a singularly beautiful pile of building, such as is seldom met with in monastic establishments’ (O’Neill 2009, 320). The friars were forced to leave on a number of occasions in the seventeenth century but continued to return. They finally moved to Drim, some 2km distant where the last member of the community, Friar John Hogan, died in 1820. He was buried in the east ambulatory of the cloister. Despite its suppression and suffering repeated attack in the 16th century, substantial remains of the friary survive. The remains consist of a church at S with a transept added at the W end of the S wall and a sacristy N of the chancel. A cloister lies to the N with the dormitory, kitchen/refectory and chapter room arranged around it to the W, N and E respectively. The external walls of the W, N and E ranges have a significant base batter (H 3.65m) and the windows and door are recessed into it. The church (int. dims. 35.75m E-W; 7.1-7.15m N-S) comprises a nave and chancel with a tall slender crossing tower and belfry. The S and E walls are unusually wide (2.8m) as they utilise the foundations of the earlier castle. The SW corner of the church occupies the original corner of the keep. A small walkway in the SW corner of the church leads into the graveyard through a small passage (Wth 1.1m). A spiral stairs is accessed from this passage and leads to the roof. It is lit by two slit windows in the W wall face and two in the S. The external S wall face has the rough remnants of a bonded wall. Several external steps lead up to the main entrance at W (Wth 1.4m) which has a pointed door arch within a square frame richly worked with a series of narrow mouldings. A two-light lancet window is in the gable over the door. The N wall of the nave is plain except for a recess for a wall tomb at the E end covered by an ogee-headed arch and a small window into the cloister lighting a side altar. There is a stoup in the S wall of the nave just before the S transept. The basin is octagonal (diam. 0.52m; D 0.63m) and lies in a recess with a pointed arched and chamfered ope (H 0.97m; Wth 0.62m). There are triangular stop chamfers at each side of the ope, each slightly different. The recess is roofed with ribbed vaulting. A rectangular cupboard (Wth 0.5m; H 0.33m) occupies the top of the back wall of the recess and there are modern votive offerings around the basin. The S transept (11.95m N-S) is entered through a wide pointed arch (Wth 7.2m). It was added in the mid 15th century and the walls have more evenly coursed stonework than the nave. Its corners are flanked externally by buttresses diminishing in two stages and battered in the lower half. It is lit by two double-light windows at E over two side altars, one double light at W and a triple-light window at S with curvilinear tracery. A double piscina occupies the SE corner. A side altar, lit by a large two-light window with splayed ingoings, is at the E end of the nave adjacent to the crossing tower, matching the side altar on the N side. The crossing tower is in line with the original castle entrance, midway between the two rounded castle bastions. The inner portion of the round-arched castle entrance remains (Wth 3.25m; T 0.9m). It now leads into a small chamber within the wall, lit by a small round-headed window at S. The E side of the chamber is built up forming an altar. There are two wicker-centred arches under the N and S parts of the crossing tower and there are corbels at several different levels. The underside of the tower has one set of tierceron ribs and holes for the bell ropes are visible. Some examples of graffiti remain on the interior of the tower piers (Kearns 2015, 36-7). The tower itself has three levels, marked externally by string courses. The first floor has square openings towards the chancel and nave. It was approached from the roof of the dormitory at N but is not currently accessible. The second floor has one window at N lighting the stairs, the third or belfry level has large two-light ogee-headed windows at all sides except E where there is a smaller single window. The parapet has battlements at the corners with wide embrasures in between. There are two steps up into the chancel which is lit by two large windows in the S wall. That at E is two-light and that at W is three-light. Both are pointed with deeply splayed ingoings both internally and externally because of the thickness of the castle wall (T 2.8m). Externally, despite the use of arched voussoirs, the deeply set windows have an internal appearance. The E one has cutstone chamfered arch beneath the voussoirs giving it a more formal exterior. Ua Briain (1908) describes these windows as covered by ‘heavy arches’ giving a peculiar and characteristic appearance to the whole structure. A sedilia or tomb niche on the S wall of the chancel is surmounted by traces of an early 17th-century stucco crucifixion scene. This was sketched by Thomas Dineley in 1681. At that point the stucco work was more extensive and included paintings of two figures on the rear wall of the tomb niche (Ó Clabaigh 2012, 251-2). Some of the stucco work extends into the adjacent window splay to E and has incised decoration. The E castle wall was reconstructed to house the curvilinear triple-light E window resulting in a very wide curving splay as the window is set on the outside of the wide wall. The original high altar (Wth 3.5m) is still in place under the window. The gap between the base and the floor would have necessitated a wooden predella. The MacNamara (founder’s) tomb (CL041-027010-) is in the NE corner of the chancel and would have served as an ‘Easter Sepulchre’. A line of slightly raised rectangular slabs set into the floor separates the sanctuary from the rest of the chancel. A number of medieval graveslabs lie in the nave and chancel (CL042-027011-, CL042-027012-, and CL042-027016- to CL042-027020-). A gallery in the W end of the nave, evidenced by corbels, gave a privileged vantage point to guests staying in the west range of the friary (Ó Clabaigh 2012, 234). The sacristy (8.45m E-W; 3.5m N-S) is entered through a pointed chamfered doorway (Wth 1.04m; H 2m) in the N wall of the chancel. There are two decorative stop-chamfers at floor level, one with a fleur de lis. Inside the door there is a flat arch with wicker centring and slightly splayed ingoi