Site of Duiske Abbey — Graiguenamanagh

On the N bank of the River Barrow, with its tributary, the Douske River, forming the W boundary. The Cistercian abbey of Duiske de valle sancti salvatoris (valley of the Holy Redeemer) was founded in 1204 by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke and Leinster, though the foundation charter dates to 1207 (Bradley and Manning 1981, 398; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 133; Stalley 1987, 245). According to Archdall (1876, vol. 2, 308), ‘Some monks of the Cistercian Abbey of Stanley, in Wiltshire, seated themselves in the year 1202 at Lough-meran, near Kilkenny, then at Athamolt [Annamult], and lastly at the Vale of St. Saviour, otherwise Duisk, now called Graignemanagh, where a monastery, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded for them’. Archdall (ibid. 309) lists a series of properties and tithes which were granted to the abbey throughout the 13th century. The abbey also was supported financially by John de St. John, the first English bishop of Ferns from 1223 to his death in 1243 (Leask 1960, vol. 2, 87). Another important source of income for the monastery in the 13th century was sheep farming (Bradley and Manning 1981, 398). However, by the end of the 13th century the monastery was heavily in debt to Italian bankers, the Ricciardi of Lucca, due to forward selling on the wool market (Stalley 1987, 245). The monastery also received income from cattle farming as well as its mills and fisheries (Bradley and Manning 1981, 398). In the 14th century the abbey was used as a place of refuge. In 1330 one Richard O’Nolan was besieged in the tower of the abbey by the Lord Deputy’s forces and in 1356 the abbot was fined forty shillings for having harboured outlaws in the abbey (ibid. 309-10; O’Leary 1892, 238). In 1380 it was enacted in parliament, ‘that no mere Irishman should be suffered to make his profession in this abbey’ (ibid. 310). The abbey was the subject of a papal inquiry in 1450 following complaints from the abbot that James Butler, the 4th Earl of Ormond, ‘forced them to pay unlawful dues and also persecuted them, so that their abbey was threatened with ruin’ (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 133). In 1501 Charles McMurgho O’Cavenagh [MacMurrough Cavanagh] was elected abbot (O’Leary 1892, 310). In 1524 he gifted to the abbey a gilded silver cross adorned with precious stones and the following year he gifted ‘several rich and expensive vestments, viz., a cope, surplice, and two tunicles’ (ibid. 310-11). However, the monasteries enjoyment of these gifts proved to be in short-lived, for in March 1536 the monastery was dissolved and in May the following year the abbot was pensioned off with a grant of £10 a year (ibid. 311; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 133). The abbey and its possessions were granted to James Butler, the 9th Earl of Ormond in January 1538 (ibid.). The Butlers of Ormond remained the owners until 1703, when it was bought by James Agar (O’Leary 1892, 241). Despite being dissolved there is evidence that abbots continued to be appointed (ibid. 240). In a list of friars in Kilkenny city dated to 1618 there is a mention that, ‘Melchior Ragged, a Franciscan, was Abbot of Duiske’ and in 1686 a letter by the Rev. John Magher refers to his appointment as Abbot of Duiske by Pope Innocent XI (ibid.). In 1597 Piers FitzThomas Butler, the illegitimate son of the Thomas, the 10th Earl of Ormond, was granted the abbey and its lands by his father and according to O’Leary (1892, 240) he was the first to make the abbey his residence. It passed from him to his son Edward who died in 1653. O’Leary (ibid. 240-41) describes a wall monument to Edward in the vestry and the inscribed base and portion of the head of a stone cross which was commissioned by Edward’s wife Anna to commemorate her father, Edmund, the 2nd Viscount of Mountgarrett. In 1728 a ‘Mass House’ was erected against the S wall of the transept (Bradley and Manning 1981, 399). Part of the W end of the nave was roofed in 1754 for its use as a C of I church but this appears to have been short lived (ibid.). In 1774 the original octagonal crossing-tower collapsed, bringing with it the vaulting of the chancel and portion of the nave arcade (ibid.). In 1813 the abbey was leased in perpetuity to the people of Graig for a nominal rent and it was decided to ‘restore’ the abbey church (O’Leary 1892, 241-2). To facilitate these works, ‘they lowered the old gable walls, destroying some fine windows to suit the pitch of the present roof, and built with the carved stones of the old arches and double clerestorey windows the plain walls of the present nave. The debris and rubbish of the work they spread over the old encaustic tiled floor to a depth of 5 feet [c. 1.5m], thereby hiding many curious sculptures and monuments’ (ibid.). O’Leary (ibid. 243) also describes how ‘the central pillar of the Chapter-house, which branched out to meet the rich mouldings of the arched ceiling’ was removed c. 1800. The monastic ranges fell into complete disrepair and are described rather evocatively at the end of the 19th century when the chapter-house, ‘is now occupied by a stable. Jackdaws build in the library; the refectory is used as a corn-store; the hoot of the owl may be heard in the dormitory; artificial manure is piled in the ancient kitchen; and the Royal Irish Constabulary practice goose-step in the cloister’ (ibid.). The W end of the church was restored and partially rebuilt in 1886 (ibid.). Extensive restoration of the church took place between 1974 and 1983, though the original floor level was not reinstated (ibid.; Swayne 1988, 9). Archaeological excavations in the NE angle of the N transept revealed an in situ patterned floor of plain, as well as decorated inlaid glazed tiles, of mid- to late 13th century date (Bradley and Manning 1981, 404-16, 420-22). Some lettered inlaid tiles in Lombardic script were also recovered (ibid. 414-16). The church is currently in use as a RC church. Leask (1960, 86-7) notes that the monastery had the largest Cistercian church (overall L 64.6m; Wth across transepts 36.5m) in Ireland and suggests a date of c. 1212-1240 for its construction. Stalley (1987, 245) suggests that building works started soon after the monks arrived in 1204 and were completed by c. 1235-40 and describes the church as, ‘an outstanding example of Early English style and is noted for much fine detail – stiff-leaf capitals, dog-tooth ornament, banded shafts, etc.’ (ibid.). The cruciform church had a rib-vaulted chancel (only the springers of which survive), an octagonal crossing-tower (which collapsed 1774), an aisled seven-bay nave (L 40m; Wth of nave 8.8m; Wth of aisle c. 4m) and transepts with three chapels in each arm (ibid.). The crossing, the four eastern bays of the original nave, as well as almost all of the aisles do not survive (ibid.). The stairs leading to the crossing-tower was in the NE angle of the N transept, with a mural passage leading from the stairs to the tower (O’Leary 1892, 244). Leask (1960, 87) describes the architecture in some detail, the ‘presbytery [chancel] was vaulted in three bays, with moulded cross-, wall- and groin-ribs, rising from thrice-filleted wall-shafts. There are banded shafts to the splays of the single lancet side windows. Of the three east windows the side-lights are round-headed, the central light pointed and the respective rear-arches trefoiled and trefoil-pointed. To the side splays were slender, free shafts set between small rolls and quirked hollows. The pair of lancets in the north gable have trefoil-pointed rear-arches. Two of the crossing piers still remain; their engaged shafts have unusually broad fillets and moulded capitals. The whole design of the presbytery accords well with the assumed date of construction and the trio of east windows may well be the fore-runners of those in St. Canice’s at Kilkenny [KK019-026029-]. They have one outmoded feature, however: the round heads of the side-lights. The three west windows have the same peculiarity except that the rear-arches of