Eglish Abbey in ruins — Eglish

At S end of a long low hill in pastureland, it stands on N side of a rectangular graveyard (GA061-080002-). This medieval monastery, the earliest documentary record of which occurs in 1436-7, appears to have been founded as a Carmelite house, possibly becoming Franciscan later (Connellan 1943b, 15-21; Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 280, 289). What is visible are the partially ivy-clad remains of a church in fair condition, along with the poorly preserved remains of a cloister garth and a domestic wing. Of the rectangular church (E-W; L 26m, Wth 6.5m), most of its walls still stand, albeit partially rebuilt and punctuated by a number of modern gaps. The original doorway, now robbed out and blocked up, was in W gable: it contains a water font in S jamb of its embrasure. The W jamb of another doorway is also visible in the masonry towards W end of N wall: it probably gave access to the cloister area. The partially blocked embrasure of a small robbed-out window is visible at E end of S wall. Connellan (ibid. 20) mentions a 'sedilia ... to the right [W] of this window' of which no definite trace survives. A large ragged ope marks the site of E window 'where, forty years ago, stood a fine spacious window of four lights ... in the pointed style and of cut stone' (ibid.). A rectangular cloister area (E-W; L 20m, Wth 13.7m) abuts the church to N with a small annexe or cell (L 7m, Wth 5m) at its NW corner. Little survives of the claustral area. It was flanked along E side by a two-storey domestic range, the N and E walls of which still stand. Fragments of another building are also evident extending to S from SE corner of the annexe; possibly part of a W range. The only surviving architectural features are two single-light ogee-headed windows in E range. A number of modern burial vaults and graves now occupy the church. Some 20m to SE stands another building (GA061-080003-), known locally as 'Teampall Maol' (ibid., 21). It consists of a partially ivy-clad rectangular building (WNW-ESE; L 16.5m, Wth 5.5m), in fair condition, with a pointed arch doorway in W wall and robbed windows in E and S walls. A number of old grassed-over field walls surround the friary, particularly to SE, S and W. These included the foundations of a large rectangular enclosure (E-W 50m, N-S 15m) (GA061-080004-) to WSW but this has recently been levelled during land reclamation. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 117-18) The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). Date of upload: 05 August 2010