St. Dominicks Abbey (in ruins) — King's Island,limerick City

Dominican Priory of St. Saviour described in the Urban Survey (Bradley et. al. 1989, 331-3) as following: 'Founded by Donnchad Cairbreach O’Briain, king of Thomond in 1227 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 226). The buildings were badly destroyed in an attack on the town in 1369 and were so ruinous that in 1377 the king made an annual grant of 40s towards their repair (ibid.). The 1590 map depicts a lofty belfry ,without battlements, four ranges of buildings in repair and the side arcades or windows of the ruined church. Today only the north wall and a short section of the east wall of the church survives in the grounds of St Mary’s Convent. The masonry is roughly coursed rubble limestone and the wall is 55-60m long (the west end is unclear), up to high and 1.2m thick. The north splay of the east window, with chamfered and rebated jambs of sandstone, can be seen in the east wall and a similar splay can be seen in a short section of wall, north of the north wall, which may have been a window in a sacristy or chapel on the north of the chancel. To the west of this externally there are three segmentally-arched recesses or, perhaps, blocked doorways. Above these there is a groove in the wall, 10m long, 25cms high and 15cms deep (for supporting joists of a floor/ roof). Above the middle recess there is a small segmentally-arched window, which may be inserted, splaying externally with pointed rear arch. 13m from the east end is the gable line of the east range of the cloister, c. 7.25m wide and probably c.10m high originally. It seems to interrupt, and is later than, a drainage course running along the north wall at a height of 8m above which there is a row of drainage chutes. East of this gable is the straight roof line, with three corbels below it, of a building 6m wide built against the north wall of the church and the east wall of the east range. Within the gable of the east range externally is the top of a blocked, round headed door or recess at a very low level with sandstone jambs and limestone arch. Above it, within the gable is a pointed window with dressed and chamfered limestone jambs (arch not dressed) splaying externally with flat lintelled rear arch which seems to be modern. West of the gable, above the roof line of the south ambulatory of the cloister, are five windows at intervals of 3-4m. The first from the east is a pointed lancet with limestone jambs which seems to be modern but re-using dressed stones. The second, fourth and fifth windows are splayed pointed lancets with chamfered and rebated sandstone jambs and pointed rear arches in limestone with sloping sills. The third window is a twin-light, pointed window with quatrefoil above, having similar chamfered and rebated sandstone jambs and rear arch. Below the ambulatory roof-line there are two segmentally arched doorways, 15m apart. The first from the east is blocked internally and has sandstone jambs on one side internally but the other side is constructed of limestone. The other door is largely modern but some of the original limestone jambs and voussoirs remain. In between these two doors internally there is a large blocked segmentally arched recess. Some 26m west of the gable of the east range are traces of the gable of the west range. In the wall below externally there is a segmental (?relieving) arch and a small blocked rectangular Opening. west of this gable the wall is largely rebuilt although traces of another larger rectangular blocked opening is visible externally. Monuments Gathered in the garden are a number of dressed stones including one which appears to be part of a chimney mantle with the initials WMC, heraldic shields and tracery. There is also a stone with the letters SFA and another stone with a fragmentary Latin letttered inscription. Excavation In 1975 work was carried out by Shee-Twohig (1995) in advance of proposed road construction. Three medieval slab-built graves were found and there were indications that a transept existed on the south side of the church. The finds included quantities of English and French pottery and inlaid tiles (Excavations 1975-6, 14; Fanning and Eames 1988, 76). Excavations carried out by Aegis Archaeology under licence No. 00E0661 identified the location of a burial ground (LI005-017121-) associated with St Saviour's Dominican Priory. The results of these excavations were summarised as following; 'Eleven trenches were dug by machine and by hand in an area just south of the medieval Dominican priory, in advance of a proposed development. Five yielded archaeological material. Trenches 1 and 2 exposed the lower courses of the limestone town wall, while human remains were exposed in Trenches 2, 10 and 11. Only those in Trenches 2 and 11 were articulated, in situ and orientated in the usual east–west direction. At the northern end of Trench 10, the foundations of a wall were discovered, which were interpreted as the southern wall of the medieval church of the priory. This wall lay c. 8m from the extant northern wall of the church. The remainder of the trenches showed that the site had been disturbed in the past and the archaeological layers had been removed extensively' (www.excavations.ie). Compiled and revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 25 November 2019