St. Carthages Cathedral — Lismore (coshmore and Coshbride By.)

Located at the edge of high ground overlooking the W-E Blackwater River to the N, with a slight S-N valley separating it from Lismore Castle (WA021-019001-) c. 140m to the NW. This is an early monastic site founded by St Carthagh, also called Mochuda, in AD 636 shortly before his death in AD 637 or 639 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 91). The monastery prospered throughout most of the first millennium AD when it became an important ecclesiastical and political centre dominated by the O'Brien's from the late 10th century to the early 12th century. At the end of the 11th century the McCarthy sept became the dominant influence at Lismore, and Cormac McCarthy, king of Munster 1123-38, who built the Romanesque chapel at Cashel, also built two churches at Lismore. One of these may have been the 'Great Cathedral' which was blessed in 1166 (O'Keeffe 1994, 120). Lismore was plundered by Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries and by Irish groups in the 11th and 12th centuries (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 91-2), and no remnants of the earlier foundation survive, although a field near the castle known locally as 'the Relic' is reputedly the site of 'Reilig Mhuire'— St Mary's Church (WA021-019020-) (Power 1952, 5). There is no evidence that there was ever an ecclesiastical enclosure associated with the early monastery of Lismore. Lismore was established as a diocese at the Synod of Rathbreasil in 1111, although it was united with Waterford in 1363 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 91-2). A synod of the Munster bishops was held at Lismore in 1152 lead by Christian O'Conairche, the bishop of Lismore and papal legate, and in 1173 and 1178 the church was plundered and sacked by the Anglo-Normans. Soon afterwards Lismore went into decline and little is recorded from the 12th century to the 16th century, although a borough incorporating Lismore had been established by the 16th century. Both the cathedral and castle (WA021-019001-) were damaged in the Desmond Rebellion of 1579-84, and in 1590 the town was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1603 it was granted to Sir Richard Boyle and by 1633 the cathedral was in ruins, although the chancel had been re-roofed by Boyle. In 1679 the cathedral was rebuilt by Sir William Robinson (Loeber 1979, 296) and the fabric of the present cathedral dates to this period, although the windows and doors were largely altered in the 19th century. The chancel was rebuilt after 1811 and the W tower was added in 1827. The only medieval portions which survive are the S chancel wall, the S piers of the crossing and some architectural fragments kept at the W end of the nave. Of the earlier foundation five inscribed graveslabs, a caryatid and some painted plaster survive; all except the plaster are displayed in the cathedral. The graveslabs were found in the early 19th century when the cathedral tower was being built and each inscription is written using the Latin alphabet. They were read by Macalister (1945, vol. 1, 107-8) as follows: 1, BENDACHT FOR ANMAIN COLGEN; 2, SUIBNE Mac CONHUIDIR; 3, BENDACHT FOR ANmain MARTAN; 4, OR DO DONNCHAD; 5, OR DO CORMAC P... B... R. Four are cross-inscribed and a sixth stone is now missing. The caryatid (Wth 0.23m; H 0.58m) depicts a robed figure seated with a book resting on his knees holding the pages open with one hand to face outwards. The figure represents either St John or Christ (O'Keeffe 1994, 118-27). An inscription written across the open pages of the book has been read as: IN MEnSAM DOMINI IERUSALEM DET ARMA ET CORONAS AURH (Macalister 1945, vol. 1, 109). Two pieces of painted plaster are stored in the library. A chest tomb, dedicated to the McGrath family and dated 1548, is at the W end of the nave (Hunt 1974, vol. 1, 232-3). Archaeological testing (08E0707) by Dave Pollock in the nave and crossing of the Cathedral produced evidence of grave-cuts that respected robbed masonry walls, (Pollock 2011c). (Macalister 1938; Harbison 1992b, 326) Bradley, J., Halpin, A. and King, H. (1989) Urban archaeology Survey of Waterford City and County, 2 vols. Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works. Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R. N. (1970) (reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses in Ireland. Irish Academic Press, Dublin. Harbison, P. (1992b) Guide to the national and historic monuments of Ireland. Gill and Macmillan Ltd., Dublin. Hunt, J. (1974) Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600: a study of Irish tombs with notes on costume and armour, 2 vols. Irish University Press. Dublin. Loeber, R. (1979) Bibliographical dictionary of engineers in Ireland 1600-1730, The Irish Sword 13, 106-22, 230-55, 283-314. Macalister, R. A. S. (1945) (reprint 1949) Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum, 2 vols. Stationery Office, Dublin. O'Keefe, T. (1994) Lismore and Cashel: reflections on the beginnings of Romanesque architecture in Munster. JRSAI 124, 118-52. Pollock, D. (2011c) St Cartage's Cathedral (C of I), Lismore. Cathedral and early monastery in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2008: summary account of excavations in Ireland, 2008, 362-3, No 1235. Wordwell. Dublin. Power, Rev. P. (1952) The placenames of the Decies. (second ed.) Cork University Press. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Revised by: Michael Moore Date of upload: 18 March 2011