Errew Abbey — Errew (tirawley By.)

In pasture, located on a peninsula, which stretches into the centre of Lough Conn from its western shores. The abbey stands in a remote and picturesque setting at the furthermost reaches of the peninsula, on a narrow spit of land (c. 550m N-S; c. 180m E–W) which branches N from the E end of the main peninsula. Errew Abbey is a National Monument in State ownership (no. 307). It is a small, unassuming monastery meriting scant attention in the early documentary sources and its origins remains obscure. It is said to be built on the site of church founded by St Tigernan in the 6th century, and a relic of the saint, known as Mias Tighernain or St Tigernan’s Paten, was preserved in the locality until the early 20th century (Crawford 1923, 173; 175-6). A nearby holy well (MA038-129003-) was also associated with the saint. One of the earliest references to the abbey is found in the Annals of the Four Masters: Giolla Aedha Ua Muidhin, Bishop of Cork, who died in 1172, is described as being ‘of the family of Errew Lough Conn’. References are more numerous in the 15th century: In the year 1404 Thomas Barrett, Bishop of Elphin was buried at Errew (Annals of Connacht); in 1413 Robert MacWattin, having forcibly removed Henry Barrett from the sanctuary of the abbey, was plagued by visions of St. Tigernan, which caused him to repent, release his prisoner and donate ‘a quarter of land’ to the abbey in atonement (Annals of Connacht). The Barretts had a long standing association with Errew. They may have re-founded the abbey as an Augustinian house in the late 12th or 13th century; it is believed that they established the Augustinian Canons here in 1413, probably as a priory cell of the Augustinian abbey (MA029-038----) at Crossmolina (Gwynne and Hadcock, 175). In 1463 an annual grant of 5 shillings out of the lands of Ballymoy was made to the ‘friars of the house of Erewe’ (Archdall 1786, 502). Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, an inquisition in 1584 valued the possessions of the abbey at 13 shillings and 4 pence annually (Gwynne and Hadcock, 175). The remains comprise an undifferentiated nave and chancel church, to N of which are three ranges of domestic buildings enclosing a cloister. Despite suggestions of an early origin, the extant church and the E range appear to date to no earlier than the 13th-century; the N and W ranges were added later. The architectural style of the piscina recess and the trefoil-headed windows indicates that the church was refurbished in the 15th century (OPW Topographical files 1936-7; Leask 1960, 96). The two large buttresses against the S wall of the church are also later additions. The plain rectangular church (c. 25m E−W; c. 6.5mN−S, int.), built of roughly coursed limestone blocks, must originally have been divided into nave and chancel by a timber rood screen, but no structural division is now evident; a drop in ground level at the E or chancel end of the church is unlikely to be an original feature. The main entrance is a doorway in the centre of the W gable, and there is another, narrower doorway at the W end of the S wall; neither retains its cut stone surround. The large E window dominates the chancel. It was still intact in 1838 when described in the OS Letters as ‘a complicatedly ornamental window of cut stone’ (O’Flanagan 1927, 182 (356)); only the jambs survive now and remnants of mullions, which show that it had three lights. The rectangular, stone-built high altar stands beneath the window, reconstructed by the Office of Public Works (OPW) on its original foundations. Five small consecration crosses are carved on the table, which has edge moulding with broad chamfers, and the base has chamfered angles with pyramidal stops. Flanking the altar in the S wall of the church is the piscina recess, with an elegant, trefoil-headed moulded arch; the piscina or basin is gone. Adjacent to this, there are two large recesses with pointed arches; the E one most likely housed the sedilia and the other serves as a tomb niche, with a grave slab set in its floor. The four small windows in the S wall of the church are 15th-century in style, as is the trefoil-headed single-light at first floor level in the N wall. However, a small, plain round-headed window at the E end of the N wall appears to be Romanesque and may be a remnant of an earlier church. There is one other interesting hint at an earlier church, a fragment of a 12th-century carved capital was reused and built into the 15th-century trefoil-head window above the piscina recess; a chance discovery during OPW repair works in the 1930’s, this stone is not visible to the present-day visitor (OPW Topographical files 1936-7). Two doorways in the N wall of the church allow access to the domestic areas of the monastery. A doorway with a dressed sandstone surround at the W end of the church gives direct access from the nave to the cloister. A square recess immediately to W of this doorway probably held a stoup for holy water. The second doorway opens from the chancel into a short mural passage (3m E–W; 0.80m N–S) giving access straight-ahead through a round-headed doorway to the ground floor of the E range, and further W along the passage to a narrow flight of stairs leading to the upper floor of the E range; the W end of the passage opens onto the cloister. The E ambulatory (walkway) of the cloister is intact, featuring an integrated cloister arcade, with the upper floor of the E range extending over it. It is lit by four trefoil-headed single-lights. The S ambulatory, along the church wall, was possibly covered by a lean-to roof and some walling associated with it survives at foundation level. There is no evidence for ambulatories on the W and N sides of the cloister. A pointed-arched doorway roughly midway along the E ambulatory opens into the ground floor of the E range, a narrow vaulted chamber, poorly lit by two small windows in the E wall. The S end, accessible from the chancel, must have housed the sacristy. The upper storey of this range served as the main dormitory, accessed from the stairs mentioned above. The dormitory roof and walls are gone, except for the S wall, which it shares with the church and which has a trefoil-headed window to allow sick or elderly monks to see into the chancel. At the N end of the E range is a broad vaulted passage (7.55m E–W; 2.40m N–S), with a pointed doorway at its E end opening to the outside world. Along its S wall it connects directly with the E ambulatory and at its W end it opens onto the N range. The N range (11m E–W; 6.20m N–S), which probably contained the refectory and kitchen, is greatly ruined; the W, N and E walls survive only to a height of c. 1.50m and the S wall is reduced to foundation level. In plan, it is out of alignment with the other buildings and was clearly added during a later phase in the monastery’s development. The W range (8.60m N–S; 4.90m E–W), a relatively small, compact building, was accessed at ground floor level from the cloister through doorways at the S and N end of its E wall. The N wall and part of the W wall survive to second storey level but the upper floor has collapsed. An E−W passage (5.65m E–W; 1.55m N–S), with doorways at either end, intervenes between the W range and the church, leading from the cloister to the exterior of the monastery. Attached images: MA038-129001-_01.JPG Errew Abbey viewed from SW MA038-129001-_02.JPG Church viewed from SE MA038-129001-_03.JPG Church interior: chancel, showing E window and high altar MA038-129001-_04.JPG Piscina recess MA038-129001-_05.JPG Recesses for sedilia and tomb MA038-129001-_06.JPG N wall of chancel, showing doorway into the E range, with trefoil-headed window above at dormitory level; rounded headed window (at R) may be from earlier church. MA038-129001-_07.JPG Cloister, viewed from N MA038-129001-_08.JPG E range with integrated cloister arcade/ambulatory, lit by four window; passage ways at N and S ends; viewed from SW. MA038-129001-_0