Abbey (in ruins) — Clonmines

This church is said to have been founded by the Kavanaghs for Augustinian Friars c. 1317 with a grant of land, but at the Suppression in 1540, the house, described erroneously as Dominican, had very little property outside some plots at Clonmines (White 1943, 365-6). The church was enlarged by Nicholas FitzNicholas in 1385 when fortifications might also have been added. The friars were expelled in 1544 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 297) but they continued to serve in the locality, and in 1773 settled on a small farm at Grantstown in Barrystown townland c. 2.4km to the E. The small chapel at Grantstown was replaced by the present church and abbey in 1830 (Furlong 1968, 39-40). The original church ruin survives in an almost complete state of preservation, except for the N and W walls of the nave. It consists of a nave (int. dims. 12.2m E-W; 7.2m N-S) with a S aisle (Wth 2.85m) separated from nave by three pointed arches. There is no evidence of a N aisle or of an entrance, and the S aisle is featureless apart from a destroyed E window and a blocked window towards the E end of the S wall. The W wall of the nave, which had a large decorated window (Grosse 1791 vol. 1, 44-5), is now destroyed. The chancel (int. dims 15.55m E-W; 7.2m N-S) has a destroyed E window, three damaged three-light ogee-headed windows in the S wall, and a destroyed window in the N wall. There is an aumbry and a destroyed triple-sedile in the S wall, and a possible tomb-niche in the N wall, which is the only evidence of burial in the church and its precinct. A tower was inserted at the E end of the nave, blocking a three-light ogee-headed window in the N wall. A pointed and chamfered granite doorway (Wth 0.67m; H 1.75m) leads to a newel stairs in the NW pier of the tower. This rises to the wall-walk of the nave and chancel and to the first storey above the vault of the tower. There are two further inaccessible stages, the topmost functioning as a belfry. The tower has a stepped parapet above with lookout platforms at the SW and NW angles. The cloister and other building were on the N side of the church as two pairs of corbels to support the lean-to roof of the cloister garth are visible on the exterior of the N church wall while the roof-line of a pitched roof is visible at the E end of the N church wall. A resistivity survey confirms the former existence of structures here (Byrne 1994-5, 70-1). The church is at the S side of a rectangular enclosure or bawn (dims. 67m N-S; 60m E-W) represented by a tower at the NW corner and adjacent fragments of the W (L 38.5m) and N (L 10.3m) walls. The resistivity survey shows a short wall running S from the E-W wall, perhaps a buttress, but the continuation of the bawn wall further E cannot be confirmed (ibid. 71-2). There is a postern doorway (Wth 0.65m; H 1.93m) in the W wall immediately S of the tower, and a second doorway (Wth 0.88m; H 2.15m) further S. Portions of this wall fell after the severe winter of 2010-11, and a longer portion fell in 2012. The tower (ext. dims. 4.35m N-S; 4.1m E-W) at the NW angle of the enclosure is open-backed (int. dims 2.34m E-W; 2.2m N-S) to the E, and has granite quoins. It is featureless to the top of the E-W barrel-vault over a first floor, which is supported on corbels in the N and S walls. Access to the second floor over the vault is through a lintelled doorway (Wth 0.84m; H 2.1m) from the bawn wall-walk on the wall to the S. A newel stairs at the SW angle gives access to the third and fourth floors, each with a light in the W, N and E walls, and to the destroyed wall-walk with a look-out platform over the stairs-housing at the SW angle. The third floor was supported on corbels in the E and W walls, while at the fourth floor the joists were inserted directly into the N and S walls. The site of St Nicholas' Well, where the pattern was held on the 6th December (O'Flanagan 1933, vol. 2, 148) lies within the bawn, but the resistivity survey identified a structure, perhaps a paved area that might have been associated with the well, near the centre of the bawn (Byrne 1994-5, 71). The principal entry to the bawn was by a gatehouse (ext. dims. 4.88m E-W; 4.4m N-S) on the S side attached to the W end of the church nave. A pointed arch (Wth 1.73m; H 2.06m) with hinges for a two-leaf gate and a slot in the roof for a portcullis leads to a barrel-vaulted entrance passage (Wth 2.1 m; L 4.05m). A destroyed doorway (Wth 1.16m) on the N side and a round-headed ed doorway of undressed voussoirs (Wth 0.75m) on the W side of the gatehouse lead to a newel stairs at the SW angle that rises to the first floor (int. dims. 4.44m E-W; 2.82m N-S). This room commands the portcullis and has a light in each wall except the E, which is the W wall of the S aisle of the church. The destroyed newel stairs continued to the second floor which was supported on corbels in the N and S walls and has a single light in each wall except the E. A possible doorway on the E wall at the second floor allowed access to the wall-walk of the S aisle of the church. The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research. Compiled by: Michael Moore Date of upload/revision: 22 July 2013