Abbey (in ruins) — Canon Island

Situated on generally flat ground at the NE end of Canon Island, one of several islands in the broad Fergus estuary. St. Mary’s Augustinian Abbey or ‘Inisgad’ (probably built on the site of an early monastery) was included in Donal Mor O’Brien’s confirmation charter for Clare Abbey, dated 1189. It was established contemporaneously with Inchicronan, Kilshanny and Killone. In 1418 a canon from Grenoble was provided to the abbey but in 1426 he was accused of misrepresentation by Diarmuid Mac Ghiolla Phádraig and for a century the Mac Ghiolla Phádraig’s dominated the abbacy. It was dissolved by Henry VIII and granted to Donogh O’Brien in 1543 when he was created baron of Ibracken. Afterwards it belonged to various Earls of Thomond. In 1577 it possessed 4 acres of arable and 14 of mountain and pasture, the half-acre site of the abbey, a church, etc., the islands nearby and other property. Henry, 7th Earl of Thomond, granted it to Richard Henn in 1712. The complex consists of the abbey church with cloister and domestic buildings to the S and E within a possible ecclesiastical enclosure (CL060-011001-) with an arched gateway (CL060-011007-) at SW. The walls are constructed of roughly dressed or undressed limestone and mortar laid down in an uncoursed or roughly coursed fashion. Dressed limestone can be seen around most openings and primary features. The outer walls are inaccessible except at W due to dense overgrowth. An ecclesiastical enclosure (CL060-011001-) was noted by Westropp (1915, 271) from N to SW and a double-arched gateway (CL060-011006-) lies on the line of this at SSW. The church is entered at W through a late porch (L 4.4m) with a pointed chamfered door (H 1.86m; Wth 0.96m). The W gable also has a pointed chamfered doorway (H 1.96m; Wth 1m) and a tall two-light ogee-headed window overhead with splayed ingoings and a heavy almost flat rear-arch. The church (L 25.8m; Wth 6.7m) is a single unit and is oriented broadly E-W. A pointed arch (Wth 3.4m) at the W end of the N wall leads into a small chapel (6.7m x 4.2m) with a round-headed double-light window in the gable and a small rectangular ope in each wall. The E wall of the chapel also has two plain recesses. A belfry rises 1.2m E of the chapel. It is described by Westropp (1897, 288) as disproportionately large for the church. It is entered through a small pointed door (Wth 0.72m; H 1.72m) leading to a lobby. A straight stairs allows access from the lobby to the 1st floor, beyond this no stairs are evident. There is a vaulted basement (2.4m x 2.4m) with wicker centring and five storeys above. Westropp assigns it and the chapels to the 15th century. Apart from the battlements which have weathered away it is in good repair. A second chapel (7.3m NE-SW; 3.4m NW-SE) lies E of the tower, sharing its E wall. This chapel opens into the church through two pointed arches (Wths 3m and 2.75m) with chamfered piers. Its E window is broken out but has some remaining fragments of tracery. The E window of the church is large and plain, consisting of three lights under a pointed arch. There is a window at the E end of the S wall similar to that in the E chapel. W of this is a sedilia comprising an arched recess with ogee hood mouldings and crocketed finials. A break and two doors lead through the S wall into the cloister. The central door (Wth 1.5m) has a segmental arch of plain voussoirs and a double-oped stoup at W. There are two aumbries in the middle of the S wall. The door at SW (Wth 1.2m) is also segmental arched. The cloister is rude and simple with plain piers rising from a low wall with flagged sills supporting a lean-to roof. The garth (Wth 14.6m) is much off the square. A round arch crosses the walk diagonally at each corner, resting on neat 15th-century corbels at the outer side. The domestic ranges consist of a probable kitchen/refectory at S with a double cellar at SE with a room overhead. At E there are four doors from the cloister which lead to a vestry, a possible chapter house, a porch or passage and another room. All this E area is very heavily overgrown. A garderobe projects E from the double cellar. The kitchen area (20m E-W; 5.8m N-S) in the S range is two-storey. The N, S and E walls all contain roof corbels. There are two narrow triangular-headed niches in the W wall. A door to W of centre in the N wall leads to the cloister and there is a rectangular window in a splayed embrasure near the W end of the wall on the upper floor level. A pointed doorway (H 1.72m; Wth 1.05m) occupies the NE corner. It has a hanging eye internally on the NW side. A round-headed door (H 1.65m) at the S end of the E wall has a slightly splayed embrasure with bar-holes on either side and leads into the double cellar. There is another smaller round-headed door above this at first floor level. At the E end of the S wall there is a double-light window with its mullion missing above which is a two-light window at first-floor level. At the W end of the S wall is an arched embrasure (Wth 2.2m; H 1.8m). Its arched roof is damaged at W while its base is broken at E. It contains a later rectangular window (Wth 0.2m; H 0.92m) with a flat roof stone. A further partly blocked embrasure (Wth 1.2m) is immediately to the W. This connects to the mural passage (L 1.7m; Wth 0.65m) of a garderobe. On the first floor, just E of the passage, is a small ivy-covered opening. SE from the kitchen are two adjoining barrel-vaulted rooms (each 8m N-S; 2.15m E-W) the second of which has traces of wicker centring. A round-headed doorway (Wth 1.1m; H 1.45m) connects the two rooms and a small rectangular chamfered window (0.56m x 0.6m) opens between them almost centrally in the dividing wall (wall T 0.5m). There is a small cupboard at the S end of the dividing wall in the more E room. The E room is also accessed by a rectangular doorway at N (Wth 0.95m; H 1.65m) and is lit by a narrow rectangular light in a splayed embrasure in the S wall. The W room is lit by a narrow rectangular window in the W wall which extends up and opens through the roof of the vault. There is another narrow ope in a splayed embrasure at the S end of the vault. The room above the vaults was accessed from ground level by a stairs rising just outside the NE doorway of the kitchen. It was also accessible through a first-floor doorway above the kitchen. It was lit by a fine double-light cusped ogee-headed window in an arched embrasure in the S wall. The lower parts of a rectangular window survive overhead. There are narrow windows in the E and W walls also. The one at E is a single-light cusped ogee-head. A rectangular doorway near the N end of the E wall led to the garderobe. Another door is at the N end of the W wall. A number of medieval graveslabs (CL060-011004-, CL060-011005- and CL060-011006-) lie within the church and there is a holy well 'Tobernamonastragh' c. 55m to SW. This is a National Monument in State care, no. 195. (Westropp 1897, 287-9; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 162; McInerney 2014, 117-18) The following images have been uploaded: CL060-011002-_01.jpg Aerial view of Canon Island from SE. CL060-011002-_02.jpg Aerial view from W. CL060-011002-_03.jpg View from SE. CL060-011002-_04.jpg Interior of church from W. CL060-011002-_05.jpg Side chapel off NW wall, from SE. CL060-011002-_06.jpg View through the two pointed arches leading from a side chapel into the nave. CL060-011002-_07.jpg Pointed arches from NW. CL060-011002-_08.jpg Twin-light ogee-head above W door to church. CL060-011002-_09.jpg View from SE corner of the cloister. CL060-011002-_10.jpg View from NE corner of the cloister. CL060-011002-_11.jpg View from SW corner of the cloister. CL060-011002-_12.jpg The sedilia on the SE wall of the chancel with a medieval graveslab below. CL060-011002-_13.jpg The belfry from within the nave showing an entrance at 1st-floor level. CL060-011002-_14.jpg One of the vaulted rooms off the kitchen showing wicker centring. CL060-011002-_15.jpg Two triangular-headed n