Church in Townparks (galway By., St. Nicholas Par.)

St. Nicholas’ church, the second largest medieval parish church in Ireland (the largest being St. Mary’s, Youghal; CO067-029003-), is essentially a cruciform structure with a long nave, slightly narrower than the chancel, and flanked by exceptionally wide aisles. This gives it a unique triple-gabled fascade at the western end. As with many buildings that have been in existence and continuous use for almost seven-hundred years it has undergone numerous modifications and alterations. Most of the fabric of the building dates from the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries. Subsequent work has been restricted for the most part to internal re-organisation and restoration carried out in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. And it has an extra special claim to fame. It seems likely that Christopher Columbus may have heard mass here sometime around 1477 when he stopped off at Galway during one of his voyages. The actual foundation date of St. Nicholas’ church must remain conjectural for although it is generally considered to have been built in 1320 this appears to date only the first major building operation on the site. History tells us that there was a church here in the opening years of the fourteenth century and we can be sure that its foundation goes back well before this time for the early settlers who lived in the shadow of the de Burgo castle would have had need for a chapel. It began as a dependency of the Cistercian monastery of Knockmoy, some 27km to the north-east of the town and was served by priests appointed by the abbot. There were many complaints about the abbey’s provision and, at the citizens request, Rome established St. Nicholas’ as a separate vicarage in the 1380s. The abbey still retained the right of presentation but Rome could now intervene with regard to its appointments. This did not completely resolve the matter, however, and there were many disputes between the various applicants and appointees in the century following its establishment. The quarrel was resolved finally in 1484 when Archbishop Donatus O’Muireadaigh (O’Murray) of Tuam (who in 1446 was at the centre of a dispute about his own appointment as vicar at St. Nicholas’ church) regularised the whole affair. He raised it to the status of a college or community to be governed by a warden and eight vicars and this was confirmed by Papal bull in the following year. To avoid any future squabbles he took the rather unusual step of giving the responsibility for the appointment of the priests to the mayor, bailiffs and freemen of the town. This new-found freedom resulted in a succession of building works including a new college house (where the present Saturday market is held in front of the railings) and various other additions to the church in the late fifteenth and especially the sixteenth centuries. It is not clear when precisely the Reformation was adopted in Galway but it certainly had some adherents by the middle of the sixteenth century – at least de jure whatever about de facto. In 1551 the college obtained a charter from Edward VI establishing it as the ‘Royal College of Galway’ and granting it the authority to use a seal. Though the seal itself is lost the surviving impression shows a representation of St. Nicholas as bishop with three maidens kneeling for his blessing. Legend has it that he rescued these from ruin by throwing three bags of money (shown on the seal to the right of the saint) in through their window. During the Confederation of Kilkenny the Catholics recovered the church (1643-52) and they took possession of it again for a brief period during the Williamite Wars (1689-91). Thereafter it has been in the hands of Protestant clergy and is now a Church of Ireland (Anglican) parish church. The office of Warden was abolished under the Municipal Corporation Act of 1840 which decreed that the Royal College of Galway should be dissolved allowing the last warden, Rev. James Daly, to remain in office until his death in 1865. The pulpit at the entrance to the chancel was erected in his honour. The building is of great interest and beauty and preserves some very fine carved stonework and memorials. Fragments of an earlier church can be seen in the exterior of the south wall of the chancel. The major building operation which took place about 1320 resulted in a simple but substantial cruciform parish church with aisles attached to the nave. The tower was added probably towards the end of the fifteenth century. The south aisle followed shortly after in the early years of the sixteenth century and was begun by a very wealthy merchant, Dominick Duff Lynch. Following his death in 1508 it was completed by his son Stephen whose coat of arms, impaled with those of his wife (Margaret Athy), may be seen along with a merchants’ or guild’s mark on either side of the corbel at the junction of the aisle and adjoining transept. The eastern section of the north aisle was widened in 1538 and the remainder completed in 1583: the date is carved in the spandrels on the outside of the west window. The south transept was also lengthened: this was done in 1561 by Dominick’s grandson, Nicholas Lynch. The south porch appears to be a complete refurbishment of a fifteenth century original. The present spire dates from 1683 and the tower parapets were restored in 1883. The most salient features of the exterior are the now-functionless water-spouts, especially the gargoyles, some of them with fantastic creatures and heads. The church possesses a rich array of window forms that date from the fourteenth to the late sixteenth century, many carved with intricate human, animal and floral detailing including two mermaids (one on the gable window in the south transept and the other on that on the north aisle). The interior is particularly rich in tombs and other fittings. The baptismal font in the south aisle is decorated with window forms that echo those in the north aisle. Of particular interest are the numerous grave-slabs and other funerary memorials. Most are not in their original locations but were moved to their present positions in the course of the extensive refurbishments of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The earliest dates to the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century and will be found on the floor of the small chapel on the right-hand side of the chancel. It is a trapezoidal shaped stone carved with an ornate cross that sits on a knobbed stem with up-turned arms. Some commentators have miss-interpreted this as a sword and, in a further flight of fancy, identified the person as a crusader! But nothing could be further from the truth for this is the grave of one of the Anglo-Norman settlers. The inscription in Norman French reads in translation: Here lies Adam Bure. May God have mercy on his soul. Whoever will pray for his soul will have twenty days indulgence. The next oldest memorials date to the sixteenth century. Principal among these are the grave-slab dated 1566 at the junction of the south aisle and transept and the two fine slabs with interlaced ornament, dated 1577 and 1580, set in the east and west walls of the latter. This transept also contains three magnificent tombs. In the corner is a very fine chest-tomb with faint traces of red colouring still visible in some of the niches. These are carved with various coats of arms and a pair of merchants’ marks which are repeated on the top and bottom of a plaque set in the gable wall above. The plaque is blank though it undoubtedly had a painted picture or inscription commemorating the person or persons interred below. Some claim that this is the tomb of the James Lynch Fitz Stephen – the mayor who is reputed to have hung his son – but this is a complete nonsense. Beside this is a magnificent altar-tomb with a canopy of finely executed flowing tracery bristling with cusps reminiscent of that in the Dominican Priory at Strade, Co. Mayo. And like the Strade example it is enlivened with a representation of the crowned fi