Augustinian friary — Callan North

On the flat flood plain on the N bank of the Kings River, immediately N of Callan town (KK026-010----) and c. 200m E of the motte and bailey (KK026-010009-). The petition for the foundation of an Augustinian monastery at Callan was instigated by Edmund Butler, and granted by Pope Pius II in 1461. However, following Edmund’s defeat in a battle in 1462 it appears that James, his eldest son, became the founder instead and, as such, was buried in the friary in 1487 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 297). The foundation was probably built in the late 1460s. Carrigan (ibid. 312) notes that James had been living in concubinage with his relative Syve Kavanagh, and that having received a Papal dispensation which enabled him to marry her in 1467, he went on to found this religious house in reparation for his sinful past, in c. 1468-69. Also in 1472 the Observant reform was introduced, the friary being placed directly under the prior general and declared independent of the English provincial, so it must have been in existence for at least a few years prior to this date (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 311; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 297). In 1479 Callan became the centre of the Irish Observant Congregation (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 297). Until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540, the friary was noted, ‘for its learned community; its library rich in manuscripts and possessing duplicates of all the rare books in the library of the Abbey of Jerpoint; for the richness of its church utensils; but above all, for its care of the poor’ (ibid.). In 1540 William O’Fogarty was the prior and the assets of the three acre monastery included, ‘a church and belfry, dormitory, hall, three chambers, kitchen etc., with gardens and closes, all ruinous and not valued, while three messuages, one with a bakehouse, two gardens and an acre of meadow were valued at 10s. 8d.; also, concealed by Sir Thomas Butler, a ruinous watermill with land, val. 2s. 6d., and a small plot, val. 4d. (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 297). In 1541 the monastery was leased for 21 years, at 20s. 8d. a year to James Butler, Earl of Ormond, the grandson of the founder (Curtis 1937, vol. 4, 206, deed 262). Thomas, Earl of Ormond, was granted possession in 1557-58 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 297). The friary was restored by the Board of Works in 1961 (O’Kelly 1985, 176). The upstanding remains consist of a nave (int. L 17.8m; int. Wth 8m; wall T 1.6m) and chancel (int. L 14.54m; Wth 8m; wall T 1.3m) church, separated by a crossing-tower (total L 6.58m; int. Wth 5.08m), built of limestone rubble, roughly coursed. There are angle buttresses on the NE and SE angles of the chancel. Though the substantial fabric of the building is late 15th-century in date, there is evidence that significant modifications were carried out in the nave subsequent to, but not long after, the first phase of construction. The W end of the nave was completely rebuilt, evident in the different masonry style and the presence of an external base-batter (H 2.4m; Wth 0.18m on W gable, 0.33m on N and S wall). During this phase a large cut-stone pointed arch with ribbed soffit was inserted towards the E end of the N wall of the nave, causing a pre-existing window to be blocked up. Also during this phase a doorway in the N wall of the nave was blocked, however, neither the doorway or blocked-up window are visible in the external masonry, indicating that the exterior was re-faced at this time. There is evidence of a N transept (int. Wth 4.1m) running from the crossing-tower, the ties for side walls (wall T 1.25m) and the coping stones for its roof are visible, therefore it is a puzzle as to why an arch for another transept would be inserted in the N wall of the nave. There are no wall scars or ties projecting from the N wall on either side of this arch, which suggests that the transept was never constructed and that the arch was probably blocked up shortly after its construction. Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 313) states that when he visited the abbey, the door in the S wall of the chancel was, ‘the only means of ingress to the ruins’, so it seems that the N arch in the nave was blocked up at that stage. Following the Dissolution of the monastery the church appears to have been altered to accommodate a domestic residence. The N arch of the crossing-tower was blocked up and a slop-stone within a pointed niche and fireplace, with chamfered surrounds, was inserted at ground-floor level as well a flat-headed single-light window at first-floor level, the latter being subsequently blocked up. The upper floors of the crossing-tower were probably used as part of this residence. Some crude put-log holes inserted at the E end of the nave probably also date to this phase as well as a flat-headed single-light window with external splay in the S wall of the nave. The pointed moulded doorway in the W gable of the nave, has mouldings very similar to those at the 15th-century Cistercian monastery of Holy Cross, also patronised by the Butlers (O’Donovan 2012, 177). The nave has a two-light mullion and transomed window with flamboyant tracery over the W doorway. This window has an unusually decorated transom, the decoration being continued on the N sill, though the sill has been cut to fit the window which suggests that the decorated stone was reused. The decoration consists of a double incised wavy line with an ivy-leaf beneath the northernmost curve and a small knot in each of the downward curves, all within an incised border along the top and bottom of the slab. In the rebuilt W end there is a two-light ogee-headed window in the N wall and a single-light with head missing in the S wall. At the E end of the S wall there is a flat-headed traceried two-light ogee-headed window. The window is very similar to one in the S wall of the W end of the chancel, at clerestorey level (H above ground 4.8m), which is roughly square. This latter is described by O’Donovan (ibid, 184) as, ‘an isolated piece of cuspless reticulation’. The design for this window appears on a chest-tomb panel in the nearby medieval church of Fertagh (ibid, 184, 187). The version in the nave has been altered, externally it appears to have been lowered, the mullion and lower jambs inserted and the sill is a reused part of the coping course of the cloister. Internally there is evidence that the embrasure was lowered and subsequently blocked up. Originally both these windows would have book-ended the N ambulatory of the cloister above roof height. There are five other windows (av. H above ground 2-2.6m) in the chancel. A two-light ogee-headed window at the E end of the S wall, the central portion of the window head and the mullion are missing. A large broken-out uncusped flamboyant traceried window in the E gable. Three windows in the N wall, an ogee-headed single-light window at the E end, an ogee-headed two-light window at the W end and between them a two-light window with broken-out uncusped flamboyant tracery. The chancel has a sedilia at the E end of the S wall and a piscina under the easternmost window in the same wall. The sedilia also closely resembles that at Holy Cross Abbey. O’Donovan (2012, 177) suggests that this was deliberately designed to emphasis the link between the Callan Butler foundation and the earlier Holy Cross foundation of the main line of the family. The mouldings themselves are unusual, taking the form of mitres (ibid.). A pointed doorway centrally placed in the S wall lead into the E range of the cloister which no longer survives. In the W arch of the crossing-tower there are two opposing grooves, 2.95m above ground level, which mark the position of the rood screen. Access to the upper floors of the crossing-tower is via a small mural spiral stair partially within the thickness of the SW pier of the tower and partially carried on a squinch which projects into the SE angle of the nave. It was lit by narrow single-light windows, the lowest of which is blocked up. There are three chambers. The lowest, at