Moor Abbey — Moorabbey

At the W end of the Glen of Aherlow, on flat ground at the S edge of a S-facing slope. Immediately S of the friary church the ground falls to the Aherlow River which has a flood meadow on either side. Early in the 13th century Donough Cairbreach O'Brien, King of Thomond, founded a friary for Franciscans. It is likely that the present church was built in 1471 by Aunfurn M’Bryon of Aghrlough (Aherlow) (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 250), only to be burned the following year (Harbison 1970, 233). After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, 1540, it was sold to John of Desmond for a fine of £15 and an annual rent of 4d. (ibid.), with its three gardens, six messuages and six acres of land (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 250). It was used as a garrison during the Elizabethan wars and was burned by Sir Humphrey Gilbert's horsemen in 1569 (Harbison 1970, 233; Lynch 2018, 31). The friars returned in 1570, only to be massacred by English soldiers some years later (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 250). The friars returned to Moor Abbey again in 1645 only to be driven into hiding five years later when the abbey was shelled by Cromwellian forces (Lynch 2018, 31). Three burials found in the area of the cloister walk appear to be those Franciscan friars dating to the 17th century (Lynch 2018, 45-6, 68). The abbey appears to have fallen into disrepair after this. During the War of Independence, in 1921, the Royal Irish Constabulary attempted to blow up the church to prevent its use as a strategic position by the Irish Republican Army, but did little damage (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 284; Harbison 1970, 233). The ruins of the abbey were vested in the Commissioners of Public Works in 1931 and extensive repairs were carried out in 1937 (Lynch 2018, 34). The church is a simple rectangular building (ext. dims. 33.73m x 9.5m; wall T 1.26m) divided into nave (int. dims. 7m x 13.55m) and chancel (int. dims. 7m x 11.9m) by a bell-tower which rises three storeys high above the side wall of the church. It is constructed of roughly cut sandstone blocks, with some limestone, randomly coursed. The front façade has a chamfered foundation plinth and a buttress projects out from the E and W end of the S wall. The main doorway in the centre of the W gable has been almost entirely reconstructed. It is pointed with moulded surrounds within a rectangular moulded frame. Above the doorway are the remains of a large, broken out window, otherwise the nave was lit by a round-headed two-light window in the S wall. Beneath this is a flat-headed piscina. A doorway at the W end of the S wall gives access to a spiral stairs in the SW angle which is lit by a series of single-light windows, three of which, one above the other, are evident in the W façade. This stair, now broken out, gave access to the parapet which runs along the top of the side walls. There is a broken out doorway towards the W end of the S wall. The bell-tower (H 21.4m) appears to be a late 15th/early 16th-century insertion (Lynch 2018, 67) and has a separate entrance from the exterior in the N wall. There is an aumbry in the W wall and E of the doorway there is a broken-out, ogee-headed stoup. It is lit at ground level by an ogee-headed window in the S wall. It is vaulted with rib-vaulting, most of which has collapsed and was replaced in the 1930s with a concrete floor with square hole in the centre (OPW report, 1937-8). First-floor level of the bell-tower contains a doorway in each face, giving access to the attic level of the nave and chancel and to the parapet of the side walls. The second floor was lit by a single, ogee-headed window in the S and W face, while the third floor, separated externally from the floor below by a string-course, was lit by a single, ogee-headed window in the E face and two-light ogee-headed window in the N, S and W face. The chancel was lit by a large traceried window in E gable only fragments of which survive. There are two windows in the S wall, a broken-out traceried two-light window and a pointed two-light window. There is a double piscina at the E end of the S wall with double pointed-head and surviving engaged twisted column. There is a tomb niche in the N wall, at the E end, as well as two doorways, leading to the cloister and claustral buildings respectively. Immediately E of the most easterly doorway, internally, there is an ogee-headed stoup. A large portion of the external face of the N wall of the nave, W of the most westerly doorway, has a cement render where c. 1937 the wall was repurposed for use as a hand-ball alley (Lynch 2018, 35). The ball alley was demolished in the 1970s (ibid.). Nothing survives of the ancillary buildings to N of the church, however, according to the report on repair works carried out in the 1930s 'of the foundations of the cloister and its buildings some traces remain below ground. The cloister space was about 58 feet [17.7m] from east to west and 46 feet [14m] in the other direction' (OPW report 1937-8). Following an excavation in 1983 the basal courses of the E and W claustral range and one small section of the cloister arcade wall were uncovered (Lynch 1989/90, 78). A series of oak posts, set consistently 2m from the church and range buildings have been interpreted by the excavator as supports for the lean-to roofs over the cloister walk (Lynch 2018, 68). This would give the area of the cloister garth as c. 12m2 (ibid.). In the interior there is a tapering recumbent graveslab (TS073-011001-) with no visible inscription or date, though stylistically it may date to the 16th/17th century (Lynch 2018, 34). There are two worn graveslab fragments, one (L 1.14m; Wth 0.83m) with a badly scratched polished surface and the other (L 1.3m; Wth 0.8m) with a rough surface. Neither have a visible inscription or date but they are likely to be relatively modern. Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of revised upload: 24 September 2019