Religious house — Cluniac monks in Athlone South

The priory of Athlone appears to have been known by several names including the priory of Saints Peter and Paul, the monastery de Innocentia and the priory of St. Peter and Benedict. This priory was the only Cluniac house in Ireland which according to tradition was founded by Tulough O’Conor, King of Connacht in 1150 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 110). The priory was referred to as the monastery ‘de Innocentia’ in 1280 (Cal. doc. Ire., 351) and again in 1391 when a letter was sent to the ‘prior of the monastery of St. Peter, Athlone (de Innocentia)’ (Cal. papal letters 1362-1404, 417). The priory was also known as the monastery of St. Peter and Benedict as recorded by Sir James Ware in 1626 (Gilbert 2012, civ-cv). Some discussion surrounds the date of its foundation. In the late 17th century Alemand recorded that this abbey was founded in 1150 and was dedicated to St. Peter and St. Benedict on the basis of the writings of the monastic historian Gaspar Jongelin (Stevens and Moll 1722, 196). Gaspar Jongelin based his dating on the writings of Sir James Ware who in 1626 compiled a table of the foundation dates of the Cistercian monasteries in Ireland (Gilbert 2012, civ-cv). Sir James Ware recorded in his table of Cistercian foundation dates, that the abbey of Athlone was founded in 1150 (ibid., 220). There is no mention in either source that this monastery was founded under the patronage of Turlough O’Conor, king of Connacht. Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 110) question the reliability of the tradition that it was founded c.1150 by Toirrdelbach Ua Conchobair [Turlough O’Conor], king of Connacht, pointing to the confusion of Athlone with the Cistercian monastery of “Benedictio Dei” [God’s Blessing] at Kilbeggan, which was founded in 1150. Conlan (1980, 74-5) argues the view that it was founded by Toirrdelbach [Turlough] c.1150 on the basis that a Cluniac foundation is unlikely to date any later because the Cluniac Order was rapidly eclipsed in Ireland by the Cistercians after that date. The abbey was clearly in existence before the building of Athlone Castle (WM029-042002-) in 1210 because the priory received compensation in the year 1214 for the land on which the castle was built. In this year, King John commanded Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, to pay compensation to the ‘monks of Athlone’ as their lands had been taken for the construction of Athlone Castle. In this year the crown papers recorded that the monks of Athlone were to ‘have the tenth part of the expenses of the castle in that town, in exchange for their land in which the castle is situated, as the Bishop of Norwich [John de Grey] undertook when fortifying that castle’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 80). In 1235, crown documents recorded that ‘the monks of Adlon [Athlone] have been wont to receive at the Exchequer, Dublin, an annuity of 10 marks for the vill (WM029-042----), castle (WM029-042002-), mill (WM029-042056-) and fishery (WM029-042081-) towards Connaught, which John [de Grey] Bishop of Norwich, when [justiciary], constructed in their land, the K. commands the justiciary to cause the monks to have this annuity’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 341). In the year 1280 there is a reference in crown papers to ‘Brother Gilbert, a monk de Innocentia (St. Peters) near Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 351). In 1284 King Edward I, commanded the justiciary of Ireland ‘not to injure the Prior and convent of St. Peter of Athlone regarding the pool which they were wont anciently to have. The justiciary had constructed 2 mills (WM029-042056-) upon the pool for the K.’s use, and the prior and convent had consequently taken nothing in the pool’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 564). In 1290 the treasurer of Ireland paid ‘Gilbert, monk of Athlone, 40s. of silver for the losses which the monks had sustained for 3 years in their pools of Athlone by the construction of the K.’s mills (WM029-042056-) there’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 325). In 1290 a second payment was made to ‘Gilbert, monk of Athlone, for 10 marks of the K.’s yearly alms granted to the Prior and convent of St. Peter of Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 325). In 1362 William O’Tumulty was elected prior, apparently the first native Irishman to obtain the position (Grattan-Flood 1913, 54) but it is noteworthy that every subsequent prior seems to have been of Irish blood (Conlan 1980, 77-80). In 1428 a papal indulgence was granted to ‘penitents who on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul [June 29], from the first to the second vespers, visit and give alms for the repair and conservation of the church of the Benedictine monastery of SS. Peter and Paul de Innocentia near Atholoyn [Athlone], in the diocese of Elphin, which is threatened with ruin on account of the wars which have afflicted those parts’ (Cal. papal letters 1427-47, 22). There is no formal record of the dissolution of the priory but Conlan (1980, 80) feels it was probably suppressed by Sir William Brabazon, vice-treasurer of Ireland and constable of Athlone Castle after 1547 (Bradley et. al. 1985, 47). The priory was joined to the castle as an estate and it was generally held by the vice-treasurers of Ireland until 1569 when it was assigned to the presidents of Connacht (Murtagh 1994, 91). Between 1569-70 the priory church was converted into a government storehouse and the conventual buildings of the priory were converted into a dwelling house for Sir Edward Fytton, President of Connacht (Grattan-Flood 1913, 56). In 1572, when Athlone was burned by James FitzMaurice FitzGerald and the sons of the Earl of Clanricard, the priory church was in use as a store. In 1572 the Lord President of Connacht wrote to the Lord Deputy, stating that ‘the rebels, with Scots, have burnt Athlone wholly to the ground. The steeple of the Abbey, where the store is, was well defended’ (Cal. S. P. Ire. 1509-73, 477). John Crofton also wrote in the same year to the Lord Deputy stating that the rebels and Scots have burnt Athlone, and the body of the church, where he had his malt, biscuit, and beer, and all his brewing and baking vessels which are consumed’ (Cal. S. P. Ire. 1509-73, 477). In 1584 the Crown granted a 21 year lease to George Alexander of the ‘site of the priory of St. Benedict of Cistercian monks of Athlone, co. Roscommon, the demesne lands, a mill in the tenure of O’Fallon, lands in Clonnalve, 7 weirs in the river Shennen, with the tithes thereof, the tithes of the rectory of Athlone, extending to Athlone and Duffer, the tithes of the rectories of Dromyne, Kiltome, Kinerboy and Kilmyan, Taghoe alias S. John Baptist, Aleake, Teaghfratrane, Teaghane Dyserte, Camnaghe, Ratharrowe, Assafraghe, Kilsalen, Kyllaghamba, and Kilcrowlen, co. Roscommon, and all other possessions of the priory. To hold for 21 years. Rent, £60 1s 9d.’ (Nicholls 1994, vol. II, 611). In 1606-07 a survey of the Crown lands and tithes which were leased by the King to people in Ireland, included a lease between the King and George Alexander of the ‘Cistercian monastery of St. Benedict, of Athlone’ (Cal. S. P. Ire., 69). This presumably is to be equated with the Cluniac house because there is no evidence for a Cistercian monastery in Athlone and the reference to St Benedict explained on the basis that the Cluniac monks were Benedictines (Bradley et. al. 1985, 48). In 1670s the priory buildings and its lands passed into the ownership of Richard Jones, first earl of Ranelagh (Conlan 1980, 82). In 1759 the Ranelagh estate passed into the ownership of the Incorporated Society for the promotion of Protestant Schools in Ireland (ibid.). A church building depicted on the site of the priory on the first edition OS 6-inch map was built in 1804 (Murtagh 1994, 10). This church was demolished in the mid 19th century and replaced by a coach factory in 1856 that was then converted into a saw mills (ibid., 12). The saw mills was demolished and replaced by St. Peter and Paul’s national school built in 1934 which now stands on the site of the Cluniac priory that is depicted