Abbey (in ruins) — Abbey Island

Ahamore Abbey/Mainistir Achaidh Mhóir: The ruins of these buildings, commonly called Derrynane Abbey, are situated in a roughly rectangular graveyard [KE106-077002-] on the NE edge of Abbey Island [Oileán na Mainistreach], on the W side of Derrynane Bay, in the parish of Kilcrohane (Cill Chrócháin), Diocese of Ardfert (Kerry), Barony of Dunkerron South. Access to the island, which is 36ha in area, is gained by crossing a beach, though it is cut off from the mainland by certain high tides. The church is traditionally associated with St Finan (OSNB Kilcrohane, 38), though Smith notes an association with St Finbarr of Cork (1756, 94). The remains are reputedly those of an Augustinian abbey, which was regarded by Cox as a cell of Molana Abbey, Co. Waterford (de Brún 1972, 36). In the year 1477 there is a reference in the church taxation of the Diocese of Ardfert, to the Augustinian abbey of Molana (WA037-011001-), Co. Waterford, Diocese of Lismore and Donald O'Sullivan a canon of the said monastery who for several years held possession of the chapel of Aghamore and its taxes against the will of the abbot of Molana Abbey (O'Connell and Costello 1958, 25). In 1479 a papal letter sent to the bishop and treasurer of Ardfert concerning the petition of Donald O'Sullivan, clerk of the diocese of Ardfert, regarding the 'chapel of Akamory in the said diocese, which is sixty miles distant from the monastery of Molana (Insulla de Malannha), O.S.A., in the diocese of Lismore, to which it belongs, is served sometimes by canons of the said monastery, and sometimes by secular clerks, appointed at the pleasure of the abbot' (Cal. papal letters Vol. 13, 677). According to this petition Donald O'Sullivan stated that he was 'a canon of the said monastery' and had 'for several years held possession of the said chapel and its fruits etc., against the will of Leonard, the present abbot, turning the said fruits to his own damnable uses and detaining possession of the said chapel, publicly keeping a concubine, and seldom or never celebrating masses and other divine offices' (ibid.). According to Donald if he was awarded the fruits of the chapel, for his lifetime, 'he would do his best to expel the said occupier, and restore the said chapel and its rights etc. to the said monastery, and cause masses and other divine office to be celebrated therein' (ibid.). The site contains the family vault of the O'Connell's of Darrynane and the grave of the eighteenth-century Gaelic poet, Tomás Rua Ó Suilleabháin. The church ruins were described in 1841 by John O’Donovan (1983, 154-6) as; ‘The abbey church measures on the inside sixty feet [18.3m] in length and twenty feet seven inches [8.4m] in breadth, and its walls are two feet ten inches [0.86m] in thickness and ten feet two inches [3m] in height, and built of hammered green stone and lime and sand cement. The east gable has on it three windows round headed, and formed of small hammered stones on the inside but on the outside they are pointed and formed of cut stone. The middle window measures on the inside nine feet four inches [2.84m] in height and five feet five inches [1.65m] in width, and on the outside four feet eight inches [1.42m] by eleven and a half inches [0.29m]. The other two are exactly of the same dimensions measuring on the inside eight feet [2.4m] in height and four feet four inches [1.32m] in width and on the outside three feet five inches [1m] in height and eight and a half inches [0.21m] in width. At the distance of three feet ten inches [1.16m] from the east gable there is a window on the south wall which is now destroyed at the top, and at one side; it was formed of hammered stones on the inside, and of cut ones on the outside. On the north wall nearly opposite it there is a similar one in good preservation; it is placed at the distance of three feet six inches [1m] from the east gable and measures on the inside five feet eight inches [1.72m] in height and three feet six inches [1m] in width, and on the outside three feet six and a half inches [1m] in height and eight and a half inches [0.21m] in width. It is formed of hammered stones on the inside where it forms a segment arch at the top, and cut ones on the outside where it is semi-circular headed. At the distance of twenty feet [6m] from the west gable there is a doorway on the south wall formed on the outside of cut stone and inclining to a point, where it measures seven feet [2.1m] in height and three feet nine inches [1.1m] in width. It is quadrangular and covered at the top with a lintel on the inside where it has been repaired at no distant period. At the distance of fifteen feet nine inches [4.8m] from the west gable there is on the north wall another doorway, which is constructed of hammered stones on the inside where it forms a segment arch at the top and measures seven feet [2.1m] in height and four feet nine inches [1.44m] in width, but on the outside, where it was formed of cut stone, as appears from a few remaining, it is now entirely disfigured. There was a window on the west gable near the top, now closed up with rude mason work. At the distance of eleven feet eight inches [3.5m] from this door to the east there is a window on the north wall, which is semi-circular headed on both sides, and formed of hammered stones on the inside and of cut ones on the outside; it measures on the inside four feet seven inches [1.4m] in height and two feet nine inches [0.83m] in width, and on the outside three feet one inch [0.93m] by seven and a half inches [0.19m]. It is somewhat injured at present. A cross or lateral house extends from the south-east part of this church; it is built of the same kind of stones and in the same style and Is no doubt coeval with the church; it measures on the inside thirty-six feet eight inches [11.2m] in length and thirteen feet seven inches [4.1m] in breadth, and its side walls are nine feet six inches [2.9m] in height and two feet nine inches [0.83m] in thickness. There are two recesses in the east wall at the north gable, and in the middle of the east wall is a doorway formed of hammered stones in a rude style, rectangular at the top and covered with a lintel on the inside and semi-circular on the outside where it is formed of thin flags; it measures on the inside five feet five inches [1.65m] in height and four feet [1.2m] in width, and on the outside four feet two inches [1.26m] in height and two feet eight inches [0.81m] in width. This house was lighted by two small quadrangular windows on the east wall between the doorway and the south gable and the other at the north gable, both formed of hammered stones in a rude style, and now much injured. There is a recess in the west wall near the south gable; and there is a large breach on the west wall towards the middle. Another small building extending east and west is attached to the west end of the last mentioned house, its south wall being parallel with the south gable of the same; it measures thirty-two feet six inches [9.9m] in length and thirteen feet five inches [4m] in breadth, and was built of the same materials with the church. Its side walls are now nearly destroyed, but its gables are standing in good preservation’. The site is annotated simply as 'Abbey' on the first edition of the OS map, where it is depicted as an unenclosed group of buildings. In 1985, excavations were undertaken c. 15m outside the present graveyard wall at NW (Power and Doody 1988, 166-70). These uncovered the foundation courses of a slightly curving stone wall, 0.7m below present ground level. They had a maximum height of 1.45m and averaged 0.63m wide. At one point a dark brown sandy layer, containing charcoal flecks and mortar, abutted its base. The wall may have served as an early boundary for the site. A well and a shell midden were also uncovered, and although their stratigraphic relationships with the other features were not established, they are considered to have been associated w