1

The Dominican Priory of Saints Peter and Paul, Athenry:

high-medieval history and architecture

In memory of Markus Casey (1957-2008)

Jim McKeon 2009

Athenry is one of the best preserved medieval towns of Anglo-Norman origin in

Ireland. Over seventy percent of the high-medieval town wall survives including

an extramural fosse and banks – a restored castle towers over the medieval

streetscape and a ruined parish church lies within the town walls – the foundations

of a possible hospital have also recently been discovered in the town (Péterváry

2008). The de Bermingham town of Athenry was a wealthy and important urban

settlement in the high-medieval period and its status is reflected in the architecture

of the Dominican priory of Saints Peter and Paul. Arising from research carried

out over the past four years this paper combines historical and archaeological

evidence to provide an account of the formative years and early development of the

Dominican priory of Athenry in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.1

Plate 1. Dominican Priory of Saints Peter and Paul (from north-east)

The priory is located between the eastern bank of the Clareen River and the eastern

flank of the town wall, within 200m of the church and castle. While it lies within

the limits of the town wall, its location on the opposite side of the river from the

castle, church and the urban core of the town suggests that when the priory was

initially constructed in the early thirteenth century it stood beyond the town’s

earliest (possibly earth and timber) defences. Only the ruins of the priory church

survive today within a rectangular graveyard (Pls. 1, 29). That large church (45m

in length, internally) consists of a chancel and nave, a northern aisle, an aisled

1 This work forms part of a PhD undertaken at NUI Galway, Archaeology Dept, under the

supervision of Dr. Elizabeth FitzPatrick and partly funded by a Government of Ireland Scholarship

awarded by the IRCHSS and an Arts Faculty Fellowship from NUIG (McKeon 2008).

2

north transept and an adjoining sacristy building at the east end of the south wall

(Fig. 1). The church retains many high-medieval features, in addition to a large

number of multi-period grave-slabs both within the church building and scattered

around the graveyard. There are no upstanding remains of the cloister or domestic

ranges.

Fig. 1. Dominican Priory of Saints Peter and Paul (ground plan of upstanding remains)

Historical Background

The rapid spread and establishment of the Dominicans, and other mendicant

orders, in Britain and Ireland owed as much to the patronage of powerful Anglo-

Norman lords as to the zeal and religious conviction of the friars (Watt 1972, 60-

5). Gaelic chieftains were also connected with many of the early Dominican

foundations, including those at Limerick, Roscommon and Athenry (ibid, 64).

Irrespective of any racial divide or political interest the Dominicans were eager to

establish themselves in, or as close as possible to, urban centres (Greene 1992, 23).

Accordingly, the establishment of priories in thirteenth-century Ireland closely

reflects the growth of towns in the Anglo-Norman colony (Hogan 1991, 2). As a

mendicant order the Dominican friars depended on begging and charity, so access

to larger population centres was crucial to their survival; furthermore, as an order

of preachers it was paramount that they had a sufficient audience to hear and

spread their message (Greene 1992, 23).

The Dominican priory at Athenry is not mentioned in the Irish chronicles.

Historical accounts of the priory (Rynne, 1991) and the only architectural study of

the priory church (Macalister 1913, 199-222)2 drew much of their information

from the work of the seventeenth-century historian Sir James Ware (1654). Ware

compiled his history of the priory from a Latin manuscript, now held in the British

Library, entitled Regestum Monasterii Fratrum Praedicatorum De Athenry (Add.

MSS. no.4784; published in Coleman 1912, 201-21). That document (hereafter

2 Rynne (1991) provides a chronological history of the priory which is replicated in Ó Héideáin

(1991, 37-9). The history of the priory is also treated by O’Heyne (1706), de Burgo (1762), Blake

(1902) and Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 221-2). Leask (1960, 126-8) has also carried out some

structural analysis of the priory, particularly with regard to its windows.

3

referred to as the ‘Register’) appears to have been transcribed for Ware in the

seventeenth century from an earlier transcript (Coleman 1912, 202-3) and includes

valuable information about the priory throughout the medieval period. Benefactors

and benefactions are recorded, including names, dates and works undertaken, and a

list of obits is also included providing information about who is buried at the priory

and in some cases where they were interred. Mention is also made of events and

individuals associated with the priory (Coleman 1912, 204-21). While the Register

is not contemporary with the earliest period of the priory, Coleman (1912, 201-3)

argues that most of the original document was written in the mid-fifteenth century,3

presumably from earlier monastic records that no longer survive. The Register can

therefore be considered an authentic and, in the most part, accurate account of the

priory’s early history, though some entries are clearly incorrect, due, according to

Coleman (1912, 202), at least in part to the ‘carelessness’ of the seventeenth-

century transcribers. The Register, for example, records Meiler de Bermingham’s

death in 1232, which is clearly too early as it pre-dates the founding of Athenry

town and the priory, both of which were established by Meiler de Bermingham

certainly no earlier than c.1237.4

Ware’s account of the priory (1654), and subsequent chronologies, correspond

closely to the Register and as such can be treated as fairly credible versions of that

primary source. However, those secondary accounts also contain details not

recorded in the Register and appear to have misinterpreted some of the information

therein. A foundation date of 1241, for instance, is firmly stated for the priory by

all authorities, yet there is no mention of that date in the Register, or in any other

primary source. Nonetheless, that date is probably correct as a provincial chapter

was held by the Dominicans at the priory in 1242 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970,

221). Also, Meiler de Bermingham was the second Baron of Athenry and founder

of the town (Rynne 1991; Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 221) and according to the

Register (Coleman 1912, 204), he invited the Dominicans to Athenry and began

building the priory after purchasing the site from a knight named Robert Braynach

at the cost of 160 marks.

The building of the priory was not only financed by de Bermingham, however, but

also by a number of Anglo-Norman and Irish noblemen and women (Coleman

1912, 203-21). Meiler built the church, Felim O’Conor built the refectory, Eugene

O’Heyne the dormitory and Cornelius O’Kelly the chapter house – other

benefactors patronised the building of the cloister, the infirmary and the great guest

house and also contributed to a number of other works. The Register also records

that Florence Mac Flin, Archbishop of Tuam (1250-56) built a house for scholars

at the priory. Gifts donated to the priory during the thirteenth and fourteenth

centuries included wine jars, horses, gold and silver and English cloth, in addition

to land and money for construction work and provisions (ibid, 204-8). It was also

3 Coleman (1912, 201-3) identifies two chronologically separate parts to the register based on

writing styles and final dates mentioned within those styles. The earliest mid-fifteenth-century part

(with some later additions), is followed by a section written no earlier than the mid-sixteenth

century. 4 1237 is recorded in the Annals of Clonmacnoise as the year in which Anglo-Norman barons began

erecting castles in Connacht. Also, Meiler de Bermingham was granted the right to hold a market in

the town in 1244 (Calendar of Documents Relating to Ireland, 1171-1307), and while he is often

cited as dying in 1252 (Rynne, 1991), Blake (1902, 72) suggests a date sometime between 1264 and

1275.

4

popular amongst the patrons to grant to the priory second tithes from their

landholdings (ibid).5

Rynne (1991) states that the building of the priory was completed in 1261, but

there is no mention of this in the Register. Rynne (1991), Macalister (1913, 200-

01), and Leask (1960, 126-7) also appear to have misinterpreted the Register

regarding works carried out in the first half of the fourteenth century. In the

Register it is recorded that William (the Grey) de Burgh and his wife Finola

granted over 100 marks to the priors towards construction work on the front [west

end] of the church and for the glazing of windows (Coleman 1912, 212). It also

states - ‘Sic Dominus am [blank] Athassel [am] pliavit chorum nostrum spacio

viginti pedum et sepulti sunt in presbiterio in gradu diaconi’, which translates as;

this lord of Athassel (i.e., William de Burgh) enlarged our choir by the extent of

twenty feet and they (de Burgh and his wife) are buried in the presbytery in the

step of the deacon.6 Macalister (1913, 200-01), Leask (1960, 126-7), and Rynne

(1991) took this to mean that the original east gable of the church was knocked

down in 1324, after which the chancel was extended eastwards by twenty feet and

a new east gable constructed. That interpretation, however, is clearly incorrect. In

addition to making no practical or financial sense, architectural and structural

evidence in the fabric of the chancel walls confirm that no extension was ever

built. It is more likely that rather than physically extending the chancel eastwards,

the rood screen (probably of timber) could simply have been moved twenty feet

westwards, effectively enlarging the choir (as stated in the Register) while

reducing the size of the nave.7 That would have created the additional space

required at the eastern end of the chancel (the presbytery) for the burial of William

de Burgh and his wife Finola. The date of 1324, as argued by Macalister and

Rynne for the date of this work can also be challenged as no date is specified in the

Register. While William de Burgh died in that year (Coleman 1912, 217), it is

quite possible that the modifications were carried out some time prior to his death.

Macalister (1913, 200-01), Rynne (1991) and Leask (1960, 126) also argue that an

aisle and a transept were added to the north side of the church in 1324. Again

there is no specific mention of this work in the Register, and architectural evidence

reveals that those ‘additions’ could in fact be late thirteenth-century in date. The

Register does note that William Walys was buried in the Chapel of the Blessed

Virgin in 1344, which he had finished building after it was begun ‘up to the bases

of the windows’ some time earlier by ‘Mac a Wallayd de Bermingham’ (Coleman

1912, 206). It would appear that Macalister and Rynne based their dating of the

aisle and transept on this reference, and while it is probable that the transept was

built in order to hold the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin, the rather ambiguous

reference in the Register could simply refer to internal construction work rather

than to the major alterations on the north side of the church. William Walys

(d.1344) is also credited with beginning work on the belfry ‘as far as the gable of

the church’, and his wife Isabel Bodkin, who survived him, bequeathed a legacy

for the east wing of the infirmary (ibid). According to the Register (Coleman

1912, 206-7), James Lynch contributed 40 marks for the completion of the belfry

some time later, and also bequeathed land to the friars, and Radulph Hallatun built

5 My thanks to Tony Fletcher for his translation of the Register. 6 Translated by Miriam Clyne (2008) and also by Blake (1911-12, 9) 7 My thanks to Miriam Clyne (in conversation with writer) for this plausible explanation.

5

an altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin around the middle of the fourteenth

century.

Additional building works are recorded during the high-medieval period, but

significant activity occurred during the fifteenth century that helps to shed light on

the structural chronology of the priory church. In 1400, and again in 1423,

indulgences were granted to those who contributed to the repair of the priory; the

latter after an accidental fire (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 221). Those indulgences

were renewed in 1445, at which time there were thirty resident friars in the priory

(ibid). According to the Register (Coleman 1912, 209), before the fire in 1423

Walter Braynach built an altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Virgin, and Walter

Husgard and his wife Joan constructed the cloisters (this presumably means that

they were rebuilt at that time). The Register further states that some time after the

death of her husband in 1408, Joanna de Ruffur erected the ‘great’ window in front

of the high altar and all of the windows of the choir (ibid, 212). While it possible

that she funded the construction of the east window she was not responsible for the

building of all the windows in the choir. It is probable that this reference relates to

the two windows either side of the east gable, as the lancets along the north wall

almost certainly belong to the initial construction of the church in the thirteenth

century. Alternatively, it is possible that the entry refers to the glazing (or

reglazing) of those windows. 8

The Regestum Monasterii Fratrum Praedicatorum De Athenry (Register) is the

only primary documentary source relating to the Dominican priory during the later-

medieval period and forms the basis of all subsequent secondary accounts. Though

the Register contains a number of inaccuracies and is at times somewhat

ambiguous with regard to detail, it nonetheless constitutes a valuable and unique

resource and significantly enhances an understanding of the priory during the high-

medieval and late-medieval periods. Unlike many historical documents it does not

appear to have been written with any obvious social or political agenda and

includes references to both Anglo-Norman and Gaelic benefactors of both sexes.

However, the document is just one source of information and must be considered

in conjunction with other available evidence, such as the architecture and sculpture

surviving at the site. It is argued by this writer that later historians have relied too

heavily on Ware’s treatment of the Register and have based their interpretations of

the priory architecture primarily on historical references.

8 In addition to the insertion of the reduced east gable window, Rynne (1991) lists a number of

additional works carried out in the priory church around the middle of the fifteenth century; they

include the insertion of an altar-alcove into the north wall of the choir; the blocking of the small

doorways into the aisle and transept; the insertion of a porch and a large north doorway into the

transept’s aisle; the raising of the cloistral ambulatory; the construction of a large central tower and

roodscreen; and the strengthening of the aisle’s columns and reduction of its arches. While in terms

of the surviving architecture much of Rynne’s assessment appears to be correct, none of those

works are recorded in the Register. The Register does, however, credit Edmund Lynch (d.1462), ‘a

burgess of Galway’, with the carving and glazing of all the new windows in the church at his own

expense during this period (Coleman 1912, 211). The later history of the priory is discussed by

Rynne (1991) and Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 221-2).

6

The Priory Architecture and Architectural Sculpture

The remains of the priory church at Athenry reveal two main periods of high-

medieval construction broadly in accordance with those identified in the Register.

The initial period, or phase, dates to around the mid-thirteenth century, beginning

c.1241, and consisted of a rectangular nave and chancel building (Fig. 2).9 The

second phase occurred during the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century, at

which time rebuilding work was carried out on the west gable and an aisle and

transept were added on the north side of the church (Fig. 7). A third major

building phase occurred during the fifteenth century, which included the erection

of a crossing-tower, the replacement of a number of windows, the blocking of

doors, and the reduction of the aisle arcade. Apart from the collapse of the tower

and the damage it caused in the nineteenth century, and the disappearance of

conventual buildings, the ruined priory that survives today is essentially that which

stood after the third phase of construction in the fifteenth century (Fig. 1). The

record of the priory’s architecture presented here, where possible, distinguishes

between the earliest two high-medieval phases. Particular emphasis is placed on

reading the architectural grammar of the building through its mouldings, arch

forms (doorways and windows) and stone dressing. A range of works on

ecclesiastical architecture in Ireland and Britain, notably those of Leask, Hunt,

Fawcett and Morris, are used for comparative dating purposes.

Fig. 2. Suggested ground plan of initial priory church, c.1241, based on comparative evidence

and the surviving fabric of the church (note that nothing now survives of the north wall of the

nave, therefore the inclusion of lancets in this wall is speculative).

Chancel

Most of the architectural features in the fabric of the chancel are of high-medieval

date and it can be safely assumed that this part of the church, along with the nave,

was built during the initial construction of the priory c.1241. Six and a half

(partially blocked) lancet windows survive in the north wall of the chancel (Pl. 2) –

the (westernmost) half lancet was truncated when the north transept was

constructed in the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century (Pl. 18). The lancets

are set within deeply splayed embrasures and include rebates for glass panes and

small square holes for glazing bars – there are also traces of plank-centring on

some of the soffits, and all of the windows bear diagonal tool-marks. Lancet

windows, plank-centring and diagonal-tooling are all indicative of twelfth- and

9 While the periods of construction are discussed in terms of phases it is not being suggested that all

of the works grouped under these headings were necessarily carried out at a single point in time.

The use of phasing is essentially a means of differentiating between thirteenth-, fourteenth- and

fifteenth-century work.

7

thirteenth-century work, though they sometimes feature in early fourteenth-century

contexts.

Plate 2. Lancets in the north chancel wall (exterior) -note the string course above the

windows and the remnants of two buttresses.

Plate 3. Looking east into chancel – note the string-course along the north wall and returning

into the east gable wall (inset- section through string-course moulding). Also note the corbel

table along the north wall; the step dividing the presbytery from the choir; and the entrance

to the sacristy along the south wall.

8

A plain chamfered moulding, typical of twelfth- and thirteenth-century string-

courses elsewhere (Fawcett 2002, 217), runs below the lancets along the entire

internal face of the north chancel wall (though broken in places) and returns into

the east gable (Pl. 3). A corbel table, which would have supported the roof, is

situated above the lancets, and spans the length of the wall (Pl. 3). Another,

rectangular string-course, runs along the external face of the north chancel wall (Pl.

2). The continuation of the string-courses and corbel table into the eastern end of

the chancel (and in the case of the interior string-course, into the east gable), in

addition to the absence of any noticeable break in the masonry fabric of the wall,

eliminates any notion that the eastern-most twenty feet of the church is a

fourteenth-century extension as claimed by Macalister (1913, 200-01), Leask

(1960, 126-7) and Rynne (1991). Indeed, the internal string-course dates to no later

than the thirteenth century, confirming that the entire wall (and therefore the

chancel) is contemporary with the initial phase of construction c.1241.

It is noted, however, that at a point 5.5m (18 feet) from the eastern end of the

church, a shallow set of steps crosses the chancel, effectively dividing the

presbytery from the choir and creating a dais (Pl. 3). The steps are not datable of

themselves but they may be those referred to in the Register, which states that

William de Burgh and his wife Finola were buried in the presbytery in the ‘step’ of

the deacon c.1324, after enlarging the choir by the extent of twenty feet (Coleman

1912, 212). Located immediately east of the step and within the north wall of the

chancel (within the presbytery), there is a finely ornamented altar-tomb. The

fabric of the tomb, however, is punch-dressed and the arch form is ogee-headed,

suggesting a fifteenth- or sixteenth-century, rather than a fourteenth-century, date

of construction. Perhaps a more likely candidate for the burial place of de Burgh

and his wife lies opposite that tomb in the south wall of the presbytery, where a

recess comprising two diagonally tooled embrasures and a ledge is partially

blocked into the wall. It cannot be argued with any certainty that this is a tomb-

niche, but according to the Register, it stands in the right place (i.e., in the

presbytery by the step) and the presence of diagonal tooling on the stonework

places it in the right period.

A triple-arched and cusped sedilia lies in the north wall of the chancel (Pl. 4) with

mouldings comparable to a thirteenth-century tomb-niche in the nave (tomb-niche

II; Pl. 9). Its arch includes a prominent hood and its moulding comprises a number

of filleted rolls, half-rolls and hollows indicative of a thirteenth- or fourteenth-

century date. Two partial capitals survive atop slender engaged-columns which

surmount well preserved bases. The capitals comprise a number of rolls, half-rolls,

hollows and fluted hollows surmounting an annulated neck – the bases reduce in

four rolls, the uppermost being filleted. On the western terminal of the arch-hood

there is a carved head (Pl. 4). Most of the sinister side survives, showing an ear,

plain collar, upper shoulder, hairline and a decorated portion of what appears to be

a mitre. The jewelled decoration of the mitre, and indeed the hairline, finds a close

parallel in the carved effigy of a bishop at Kildare Cathedral which dates to c.1235-

58 (Hunt 1974, pls.69-70). Unlike the tomb-niches in the nave the monument does

not extend to the ground but sits 0.5m above the modern surface – that factor, in

addition to its location in the chancel, suggests that it is a sedilia.

9

Plate 4. Sedilia in north wall of chancel; inset – carved head

Fig. 3 Presbytery windows (after Macalister 1913, 203)

In the north and south presbytery walls either side of the east gable there are two

opposing pointed two-light windows (Fig. 3). Both windows have diagonal tooling

and are set within splayed embrasures. Internally, both arches have plain

chamfered mouldings, and externally they comprise filleted-rolls, rolls and

hollows. The mouldings on their jambs consist of half-rolls and fluted chamfers.

Both arches have hood-mouldings, but while on the south window this feature is

plain with returned ends, on the north window the terminals are decorated with

carved human heads. One of those heads is much denuded, however, the headwear

on the other (Pl. 5) bears some resemblance to that on head-slabs from St. Canice’s

Cathedral and St. Mary’s collegiate church Gowran, in Co. Kilkenny, for which

Plate 5. Carved head on western

terminal of north window

10

Hunt (1974, pls. 108, 110) assigns thirteenth- to early fourteenth-century dates.

The south window has switch-line and cusped tracery enclosing a large multi-

foiled spherical triangle, surmounting two trefoil-headed lights. The north window

has switch-line and cusped tracery enclosing two small trefoils and a large multi-

foiled circle, also surmounting two trefoil-headed lights. That style of geometrical

tracery in which foiled circles and spherical forms are the predominant element

was in use between the late thirteenth and fifteenth century in Britain (Fawcett

1984, 163-168). The presence of diagonal tooling and the carved head, however,

would suggest a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century date for the presbytery

windows.

Plate 6. East gable (external) – note the remains of an earlier traceried

window arch framing the later insertion.

The current east window of the chancel is of four lights surmounted by switch-line

tracery (Pl. 6) and was probably inserted into the gable in the fifteenth or sixteenth

century – almost identical windows light the nave of Dunfermline Abbey and the

choir of Perth church in Scotland, which date to the mid-fifteenth century (Fawcett

1984, 171). Framing that late-medieval window are the remains of an earlier,

larger window. Surviving fragments of the arch reveal that the window had five

lights with tracery of switch-line design, with modifications and cusping to the

apertures. Leask (1960, 127) argued that the pointed trefoil motif indicated by the

surviving tracery was a feature of late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century

windows in England and is a ‘sure mark of fourteenth century work in Ireland’.

Indeed, the fragmented tracery resembles that of late thirteenth-century geometric

windows in Scotland (Fawcett 1984, 162-4), and the engaged pillars that support

the arch comprise half-roll and hollow chamfer mouldings which rarely pre-date

that period and were commonly used during the fourteenth century (Forrester

1972, 10-20). At the southern terminal of the hood-moulding there is a carved

head with a hair-style similar to that on the late thirteenth-century ‘Bambino Stone’

11

in St. Mary’s Church, New Ross, Co.Wexford (Hunt 1974, pl.39) – another carved

head presumably marked the northern stop but no longer survives. The

architectural evidence on the external face of the east gable reveals that the earlier

window is probably of fourteenth-century date. However, contrasting evidence on

the internal face of the gable suggests a more complex sequence of events. The

internal window-arch (Pl. 3) contains mouldings comprising a number of plain

rolls and hollows, which spring from capitals of plain-roll, filleted-roll and hollow

mouldings. These cap slender engaged pillars with mouldings comprising a single

roll within a concave chamfer which surmount bases (only the north base survives)

of the water-holding type, composed of a cylindrical plinth supporting three

reducing rolls. The mouldings are most commonly associated with thirteenth

century work in England (Forrester 1972, 10; Morris 1992, 13-14), although water-

holding type bases are sometimes found in fourteenth-century contexts (Fawcett

2002, 180).

At the apex of the east gable there are the remains of a window that Bradley and

Dunne (1990, 30) suggest would probably have lit a roof-loft (Pl. 3). The small

‘lancet-like’ window was intact until at least 1791 as it is shown in Bigari’s sketch

of the priory (Pl. 7). Also shown in Bigari’s sketch are two of four angle-

buttresses of which the ruined remains survive today. According to his sketch, the

buttresses rise in two reducing steps – the lower step is more prominent and has a

weathered-back offset, while the upper, longer step is capped by a steep

weathered-back offset.10 That style of buttressing is a feature of mid-thirteenth to

fourteenth-century architecture in England and Scotland (Fawcett 2002, 137).

Plate 7. Bigari’s 1791 sketch of Athenry priory (in Grose 1791) – note the small window in the

apex of the east gable, the open doorway in the transept, and the angle-buttresses.

10 It should be noted that, whilst useful, Bigari’s sketch must be treated with some caution. His

depiction of the east gable window, for example, shows it as a five-light construction instead of

four.

12

The construction of three successive window types in the east gable reveals that the

church was a dynamic building reflecting several periods of patronage in its

architectural modifications during the medieval period. The diagnostically

thirteenth-century moulded pillars and arch on the interior face of the gable

represent the earliest window, which presumably dates to the initial construction of

the church. Evidence of the second, fourteenth-century window occurs on the

external face of the gable and comprises the remnants of elaborate geometric

tracery, an ornamented hood-moulding and engaged pillars. In the fifteenth or

sixteenth century the embrasure was reduced in size and the window was replaced

by a more simple opening with switch-line tracery that survives today.

A doorway is located along the south wall of the chancel leading into the sacristy

(Fig. 4). It has a plain pointed arch with a single broad chamfer. Rynne (1991)

argues that the sacristy was built in the seventeenth century; however, there are

traces of diagonal tooling on some of the jamb-stones of the door (though others

appear quite modern). As noted, diagonal tooling is a stone dressing technique

used between the twelfth and the fourteenth centuries. Its presence would

therefore suggest that the entrance, or at least some of the jamb-stones, survive

from an earlier high-medieval sacristy that was partly replaced or refurbished in

the early modern period. There is additional evidence to suggest that the sacristy

may have had early origins. On the external face of the east wall (of the sacristy),

immediately south of a later three-light ogee-headed window, there is a diagonally-

tooled, chamfered jamb-stone with traces of a relieving arch and the remains of a

corresponding jamb with a relieving arch on its northern side. The south face of the

sacristy building is pierced by a blocked doorway, above which is a small

rectangular ‘ope’. Though the doorway is punch-dressed and therefore of

fifteenth- or sixteenth-century date, the ‘ope’ reveals traces of diagonal tooling.

While the sacristy may have been partially rebuilt or refurbished in the seventeenth

century, architectural evidence clearly reveals that the building has its origins in

the high-medieval period.

Nave

The south wall of the nave continues westwards from that of the chancel and is

separated from the latter by the remains of a crossing-tower built in the fifteenth

century (Fig. 4). The northern limit of the nave is delineated by an aisle-arcade

which appears to have been added in the fourteenth century. Macalister (1913,

198) plausibly suggests that prior to the construction of the aisle, the north wall of

the nave would have mirrored that to the south, containing an enfilade of lancet

windows. The west gable has been greatly altered by episodes of destruction and

later rebuilding. Only the upper half of a traceried window survives above a

blocked recess that would have originally held the main entrance to the church (Pl.

17). No mouldings or jambs survive from the doorway to inform a construction

date.

Five and a half (partially blocked) lancet windows survive in the south wall of the

nave (Fig. 4) of identical form to those in the chancel – the most eastward lancet

was truncated when the fifteenth-century crossing tower was built. As with the

lancets in the chancel, the windows are set within deeply splayed embrasures and

display diagonal tooling, and they almost certainly belong to the initial phase of

construction c.1241.

13

Fig. 4. South elevation of priory church (internal) (after Macalister 1913, 206)

The south wall of the nave contains two small doorways, the first of which is

located towards the west end of the church below the western-most lancet window

(Fig. 4). It is undecorated and includes a pointed arch (internally), but punch-

dressing on the internal jambs and arch-stones indicate a late-medieval date.

However, a doorway heading to the western claustral range of the priory would

have been located there in the initial, thirteenth-century church. The blocked arch

of the second doorway survives within the fifteenth-century crossing tower (Fig.

4). It is plain and pointed in form and displays diagonal tooling, indicating a

thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century date. That doorway would have originally

provided access to the eastern claustral range prior to (and probably after) the

construction of the crossing-tower.

There are a number of impressive multi-period monuments set into the south wall

of the nave (Fig. 4). Among them are the remains of three high-medieval tomb-

niches which, based on their architectural features, date to the first period of

construction in the thirteenth century. The three tomb-niches include elements of

Romanesque and Transitional architecture, such as foliage, nail-head, chevron and

cable designs (Pls. 8-14). Many of the Transitional motifs also occur at

ecclesiastical foundations west of the river Shannon, including Killaloe and

Corcomroe in Co. Clare; Ballintober in Co. Mayo; Kilmacduagh and Clonfert in

Co. Galway; Monasternenagh in Co. Limerick; and Boyle Abbey, in Co.

Roscommon (Leask 1960, 53-76; O’Keeffe 2003, 115-19). The western

distribution of that particular style of Transitional architecture, whereby the finely

carved motifs are fashioned in the medium of limestone, has led to its definition by

Leask (1960, 53) as ‘School of the West’ architecture.11 That architectural style

was predominantly employed in churches and abbeys under the patronage of

Gaelic lords in the first four decades of the thirteenth century. The occurrence of

‘School of the West’ motifs in the tomb-niches at Athenry not only dates those

monuments (and the nave) to the initial construction phase of the priory in c.1241,

but may also be the architectural expression of Gaelic benefactors, many of who

are named in the Register.

11 It should be noted that as Leask (1960, 53) points out, ‘the term “school” is to be interpreted as

meaning a body of tradition, not as the existence of one guild of masons’. For that reason O’Keeffe

(2003, 1145) considers the term ‘an odd choice of phrase’, though he deems it more acceptable than

the term ‘Transitional’. It is further noted that ‘School of the West’ architecture is not unique to the

west of Ireland, but is uncommon elsewhere (Leask 1960, 53).

14

Plate 8. Tomb-niche I Plate 9.Tomb-niche II

Plate 10. Tomb-niche I -capital Plate 11. Tomb-niche I - capital

Plate 12. Tomb-niche II - decorated stop Plate 13. Tomb-niche II - capital

15

Plate 14. Tomb-niche III - capital with chevron design

Between tomb-niche III and the fifteenth-century crossing-tower there is a double-

piscina (Pl. 15). The piscina contains no diagnostic features or tool marks

indicative of a high-medieval date, although as Fawcett (2002, 272) remarks, ‘the

basic form of piscinae did not change dramatically from the thirteenth to the early

sixteenth centuries’. Piscinae, however, were usually located beside an altar (ibid,

270-1), and the location of the piscina at Athenry would suggest that an altar may

have been removed to make way for the construction of the crossing-tower in the

fifteenth century. This would suggest that the piscina pre-dates the tower and is no

later than the fourteenth-century in date. A small moulded fragment bearing a

chevron design indicative of Romanesque architecture is embedded in the

crossing-tower wall (Pl. 16). While clearly ex-situ, the fragment is probably of

early thirteenth-century date.

Plate 15. Double-piscina Plate 16. Chevron fragment

Other monuments and features are present within the nave, but are later in date

(Fig. 4). They include a half-hexagonal protruding feature, which Rynne (1991)

considered a hagioscope of the seventeenth-century, and a round-headed statue

niche above a moulded and decorated octagonal console which, according to

Bradley and Dunne (1990, 32) dates to the sixteenth century. While on stylistic

grounds both features post-date the high-medieval period and are probably early

modern in date, it is considered that the ‘hagioscope’ is in fact a viewing loft, or a

raised pulpit (Fawcett 2002, 281), built for the purpose of preaching, possibly

during the Counter-Reformation.

16

As noted, the west gable of the nave has been radically altered, with only the upper

half of a centrally placed window surviving. Despite the blocking of most of the

window during the construction of a ball-alley at the end of the nineteenth century,

the arch and much of the tracery still survives (Pl. 17). Based on the surviving

tracery Macalister offers a convincing reconstruction of the window (Pl. 17 – inset)

revealing it to be of four lights with squat ogee-heads and trefoil soffits,

surmounted by geometric, cusped tracery enclosing pointed and elongated trefoils

and quatrefoils. The use of the ogee curve first occurred in England during the last

years of the thirteenth century but continued in use into the fifteenth and sixteenth

centuries (Fawcett 2002, 115-23). According to Leask (1960, 127) the pointed

trefoil motif is a ‘sure mark of fourteenth-century work in Ireland’, and it is likely

that the west gable window at Athenry dates to that period. Indeed, it possible that

the window formed part of the construction work recorded in the Register that was

carried out ‘on the front end of the church’ by William de Burgh and his wife

Finola prior to de Burgh’s death in 1324 (Coleman 1912, 212).

Plate 17. West gable - internal and external views

Inset – reconstructed west window (after Macalister 1913, 201)

Before discussing the north transept and aisle it is worth comparing the masonry

fabric of what are considered to be two distinct phases of construction. According

to Rynne (1991), Macalister (1913, 198-202) and Leask (1960, 126), the transept

and aisle were added around 1324, and that argument is to a degree supported by

entries in the Register (Coleman 1912, 206). Examination of the wall fabric in the

church, however, reveals little difference between the masonry of the thirteenth-

century nave and chancel and that of the supposed fourteenth-century transept and

aisle. The masonry in both ‘phases’ comprises roughly coursed medium-to-large

limestone blocks separated by smaller stones with the interstices filled by small

pinning-stones and flat stones used as levellers (Figs. 5-6). The similarity in

masonry styles does not confirm that the walls were constructed at the same time,

as construction techniques changed little during the medieval period (and later). It

17

does, however, reveal that the suggested phasing of the church cannot be

determined on the basis of its masonry fabric.

Fig. 5.Thirteenth-century masonry Fig. 6. Fourteenth-century masonry

(south wall of chancel) (north wall of aisle)

North Transept

Irrespective of its exact construction date, the north transept undoubtedly

constitutes a later addition to the church. The later addition of transepts was

common in Irish Dominican churches, examples of which include Cashel, Co.

Tipperary, (Leask 1960, 93) and Kilmallock, Co. Limerick (Hogan 1991, 7). The

addition at Athenry is revealed by the truncation of the north chancel wall by the

east wall of the transept, resulting in the most westward of the chancel lancets

being cut in half (Pl. 18; Fig. 7). The north transept extends 11m from the original

church. It is 10m wide (internally) and is divided by an aisle-arcade creating a

small ‘porch’ and a larger rectangular area (Fig. 7). All of the features in the

‘porch’ (doorway, west window, external alcove) include punch-dressed masonry

and are, therefore, late-medieval additions.

Fig. 7. Late-thirteenth/early-fourteenth-century ground-plan of church – note the

truncated lancet at the west end of the chancel and the irregular alignment of the

transept aisle-arcade.

18

The aisle-arcade of the transept, including its arches and pillars, is of the same

form as that in the nave. Curiously, however, it does not run exactly parallel to

either the east or west walls of the transept but deviates eastwards (Fig. 7). Only

one arch of the arcade survives and the springing of a second (Pl. 19), but if its line

and span are projected southwards it joins the nave-arcade at its (non-extant) fourth

column (Fig. 7.50). For the transept-arcade to have met that column at right-angles

and remain parallel with the transept walls, it would have to have begun further

east along the north wall, encroaching into an area occupied by an elaborately

carved statue-arcade (Pl. 23). The fact that this did not happen might indicate that

the statue-arcade was already in place before work on the transept-aisle began,

though it will be argued below that the ‘statue-arcade’ is in fact a later addition.

Alternatively, the misalignment of the aisle-arcade could simply be due to an error

of judgement either in the planning or construction stage.

Plate 18. Truncation of chancel by Plate 19.Transept aisle

the east wall of the transept

In the east wall of the transept there is an identical pair of pointed twin-light

windows with Y-shaped tracery (Pl. 20). The northern-most window is certainly a

modern replacement and the other also represents a later addition. In Bigari’s

sketch of 1791 (Pl. 7) the windows appear to have consisted of multi-foiled circlets

above trefoil-headed double-lights, a form more consistent with fourteenth-century

work. However, the degree of artistic licence used by Bigari is not known.

Irrespective of the authenticity of the tracery, the internally splayed embrasures

display diagonal tooling on their internal jambs, indicative of twelfth- to early

fourteenth-century work.

Beneath the northern-most window of the east transept wall there is a blocked

doorway which was apparently open in 1791 (Pls. 7, 20). The small pointed

doorway comprises a simple chamfered moulding and is punch-dressed, indicating

a late-medieval date; however, either side of the door are the diagonally-tooled

jambs of an earlier and bigger embrasure, revealing that a doorway was present

there in the thirteenth or fourteenth century. Just north of the blocked doorway,

supporting the north-east corner of the transept are the remains of an angle-buttress

which contains the remnants of a weathered-back offset (Pl. 20). That style of

19

buttressing is a feature of mid-thirteenth- to fourteenth-century architecture in

Britain (Fawcett 2002, 137).

Plate 20. Windows and blocked doorway in east wall of transept – also

note the ruined angle-buttress on the north corner of the transept

Plate 21. North window of transept

20

A corbel-table for the transept roof runs the length of the internal face of the east

wall, above the windows. A corresponding corbel-table also survives along the

north wall of the chancel (Pl. 3). The presence of those corbel-tables could suggest

that the transept and chancel were contemporary in date. It is possible, however,

that the church was re-roofed after the transept was added, perhaps following the

fire of 1423, and that the corbels are the only survivors of that later episode of

construction.

There is a large four-light pointed window with ornate tracery in the north gable of

the transept (Pl. 21). The tracery, however, is reconstructed, as at the time of

Macalister’s survey (1913, 203) he lamented the lack of ‘even such small

fragments [of tracery] as are left of the east window’. Leask (1960, 127-128),

however, observed ‘loose fragments’ of tracery belonging to the window which

‘together with the surviving jambs’ revealed that the tracery was of ‘spherical

triangles, two small and one large, all cusped and sexfoiled’. Despite the

questionable authenticity of the tracery, it would appear that the pillars, capitals

and possibly the bases framing the internal embrasure of the window are all in-situ.

The pillars are slender and engaged, and their mouldings consist of a roll with

frontal fillet within a hollow chamfer. The capitals are also engaged and comprise

a number of rolls, filleted rolls, hollows and annulated necking. The bases consist

of a fluted half-cylindrical lower half and annulated necking but appear to be later

reconstructions.

Running across the north gable wall, below the window, there is a string-course

moulded with a filleted-roll (Pls. 22-23, Fig. 8) – that style of moulding is most

commonly associated with thirteenth-century work in England (Morris 1992, 14).

The string-course also returns along the east transept wall.

Plate 22. String-course (east wall of transept) Fig. 8. String-course moulding

One of the most impressive monuments in the priory is what appears to be a statue

arcade spanning the north wall of the transept below the window (Pl. 23); however

there are some questions regarding its original form and location. The pillars of the

‘arcade’ rest upon a grave slab revealing that it must have been reconstructed at

some time. Indeed, while it appears to be a single arcade, when Macalister (1913,

209) visited the priory in 1913 he noted that it comprised three separately built

features. One clue to the feature not having been built as a single arcade is to be

found in the north-east corner of the transept. The wall there has been obliquely

cut away to admit the insertion of the eastern-most arch (Pl. 23). This would

21

suggest that the monument was inserted some time after the construction of the

transept.

Plate 23. Statue-arcade spanning the north wall of the transept (note string-course above)

Fig. 9. Arch-moulding Plate 24. Displaced stone-carved head in transept

(after Macalister 1913, 204)

The moulding on the ‘arcade’ arches consists of a roll with three frontal fillets (Fig.

9), a moulding form most prevalent in England during the thirteenth century

(Morris 1992, 14). The capitals predominantly comprise filleted and fluted rolls

with annulated necking, though the most easterly capital includes a band of nail-

head design, similar to that on tomb-niche I in the nave (Pl. 10). The bases (though

mostly reconstructed) are of the water-holding type and have a flute-rolled necking

above a hollow and a chamfered roll, surmounting a round chamfered plinth.

Architecturally, most of the mouldings found on the ‘arcade’ are consistent with

late thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century work, however, the nail-head

ornamentation on the eastern capital is Romanesque in style. It is suggested that in

its present form the arcade represents a composite reconstruction of a number

(probably three) of identical monuments inserted into (or rather, made to fit into)

the north wall of the transept. While most elements of the ‘arcade’ are

contemporary with the transept (i.e., late thirteenth or early fourteenth century), the

eastern capital is clearly earlier and probably originated in the chancel or nave.

22

The final feature in the transept of possible high-medieval date is a displaced

stone-carved head, leaning against an exposed column of the aisle-arcade (Pl. 24).

The carved head reveals the damaged face of a male figure and includes a

distinctive hair-style. Another example of that ‘curled’ hair-style can be seen on

the effigy of a bishop at Ferns Cathedral, Co. Wexford, dating to the mid-thirteenth

century (Hunt 1974, pl. 65).

The north transept was clearly constructed after the chancel, as indicated by the

truncation of the north chancel wall. While there is a suggestion in the Register

that this occurred c.1324 (Coleman 1912, 206), the architectural evidence indicates

that it could have been built any time between the late thirteenth and mid-

fourteenth century.12

Aisle

The north aisle appears to have been added to the church in conjunction with the

construction of the north transept, as the north wall of the aisle is keyed into the

west wall of the transept. The addition of a transept and aisle also occurred at the

Dominican church at Cashel, Co. Tipperary c.1270 (Leask 1960, 93), and an aisle

was added to the Dominican church of St. Mary’s of the Isle in Cork, in the late

fourteenth or fifteenth century (Hurley and Sheehan 1995, 48-51). At Athenry, the

construction of the aisle would have involved the destruction of the original

(c.1241) north wall of the nave and its replacement by an aisle-arcade, in addition

to the extension of the west gable and the construction of a new exterior wall to the

north (Fig. 7). There is a window in the northern extension of the west gable with

a pointed quatrefoil over two double-cusped foliated lights (Pls. 25-26). Leask

(1960, 127) assigns the window a fourteenth-century date, however, it appears

more akin to examples from Scotland dating to the fifteenth century, particularly to

a window in Paisley Abbey dating between 1445 and 1459 (Fawcett 1984, 168-

169). There are traces of an earlier embrasure below the extant window in the

form of diagonally-tooled jamb-stones, but all the tooling on the extant window is

punch-dressed. The present window, therefore, in addition to two identical

windows in the north wall of the aisle and another in the ‘porch’, dates to the

fifteenth century or later and it replaced an earlier thirteenth- or fourteenth-century

window or even a small doorway of which very little remains.

The aisle-arcade was partially destroyed and blocked up, probably in the fifteenth

century, in order to support the construction of the crossing-tower (Rynne 1991).

Sufficient architectural elements survive, however, to recreate its high-medieval

appearance. Three arches (of five) remain, two in reduced form and one (western-

most) to its original plan (Pl. 25). The springing of the fourth arch can be seen at

the eastern end of the arcade (Pl. 25) – at the eastern terminal of this arch the

arcade would have been joined approximately at a right-angle by the contemporary

aisled arcade of the transept (Fig. 7). The fifth or final arch would have spanned

the transept and joined the north wall of the chancel. The pointed arches are

simple and undecorated in form, with a single stepped, or rebated, soffit.

Cylindrical columns built using large cut limestone blocks support the arches (Pl.

27). A reconstruction of the moulded capitals has been made based on surviving

12 It is even quite possible that the ‘arcade’ was not located in the transept during the high-medieval

period and originated elsewhere in the church. It may have been reconstructed at a relatively late

date from loose fragments, like the tracery in the transept window.

23

fragments (Fig. 10) – they consist of single rolled necking and fluted octagonal

abaci, between which are various sized bands of rolls, half-rolls and a half-hollow,

divided by quirks. That style of capital (unfoliated with moulded bands) is

indicative of Gothic architecture and is seen (in various forms) in British examples

from the early decades of the thirteenth until the later half of the fourteenth century

(Fawcett 2002, 194-196).

Plate 25. Aisle (from east) Plate 26. Aisle window

Plate 27. Aisle-column and capital Fig. 10. Reconstructed column

Claustral Buildings

The priory would have had the usual claustral buildings arranged to an established

plan around a central courtyard, or cloister (Coppack 1993, 61). Some of those

buildings are mentioned in the Register, including the refectory, dormitory, chapter

house, infirmary and scholar house, and appear to have formed part of the initial

construction work of the mid-thirteenth century (Coleman 1912, 204-21). The

Register also specifically states that the ‘claustrum’, or cloisters, were built prior to

the fire of 1423 (ibid, 209). That reference, however, presumably relates to the

24

rebuilding or refurbishment of the cloisters and there is structural evidence on the

external face of the nave wall to support that argument. The crease-line of an

ambulatory roof or covered cloister walk runs along the nave wall below the level

of the blocked lancet windows (Pl. 28). Two corbels survive below the crease-line,

which would have presumably supported the roof. The crease-line, however, runs

above the blocked-up lower portions of the lancets, and therefore post-dates the

thirteenth-century construction of the windows. Running beneath the original,

unblocked lancets, however, and parallel to the crease-line, is another, much

degraded crease-line incorporated into the main fabric of the wall. It is probable

that it marks the line of an earlier ambulatory roof, perhaps from a thirteenth-

century cloister. No upstanding claustral buildings survive at Athenry, however,

excavation to the south of the church might reveal some of their foundations,

especially in the area of the former eighteenth-century barracks which was

apparently built on the site of the claustral ranges c.1750 (Rynne 1991; Pl. 29).

Plate 28. Crease-line of ambulatory roof

Plate. 29. Aerial view of Athenry priory (Cambridge AJU013, 1964) showing

priory church and site of cloister and domestic ranges to south

inset -extract from 1st ed. OS map of 1842 showing location of barracks

25

Grave Slabs

The burials of a number of notable Anglo-Norman and Gaelic noblemen are

recorded in the priory Register (Coleman 1912, 213-21; Blake 1902, 65-90). They

are the most obvious testimonies to the patronage that the priory enjoyed during

the high-medieval period. The obits include a number of de Berminghams, most

notably Meiler, the founder of Athenry and his son William (Archbishop of Tuam

in 1289), whose sepulchural monument was, according to the Register, ‘let into’

the wall of the church on the north side of the high altar. In 1307, Meiler de

Bermingham’s eldest son Peter, third lord of Athenry, was buried in his father’s

tomb within the priory, and in 1322, Richard de Bermingham (son of Peter), fourth

lord of Athenry and principal leader of the Anglo-Norman forces at the battle of

Athenry in 1315, was also buried within the priory. In 1376, Thomas de

Bermingham’s remains were removed from the Dominican abbey at Trim (where

he was buried in 1374) and re-interred in the priory at Athenry. Other principal

figures buried at the priory include Florence O’Flyn, Archbishop of Tuam [d.

1256], William de Burgh ‘the Gray’ [d. 1324], and Thomas O’Kelly, Bishop of

Clonfert [d. 1263].

A large number of grave-slabs survive within the priory church and graveyard

ranging in date from the thirteenth century to almost the present day. Based on

comparative analysis with slabs from Tipperary (Maher, 1997) and St. Canice’s

Cathedral, Kilkenny (Bradley, 1985), fifteen appear to be high-medieval in date

(five in the graveyard and ten within the church).13 Those slabs contain features

(i.e, a tapered form) and decoration (i.e., carved crosses and fleur-de-lis motifs)

typical of that period (Figs. 11-21). Amongst the slabs in the church are a group of

five that display similar ornamentation and may be the work of one individual

(slabs G-K). In addition to the grave-slabs there is a trapezoidal tomb-lid (Pl. 30)

located in the chancel of the church which includes a carved cross on each of its

gable ends (Fig. 22). The tomb probably dates to the thirteenth or fourteenth

century and, according to Rynne (1991, 6), may even have entombed the body of

Meiler de Bermingham, founder of Athenry, who died between 1252 and 1275.

No burials have been excavated at the priory, but a significant number were

recovered during the excavation of a contemporary Dominican foundation at St.

Mary’s of the Isle, Cork (Power 1995, 66-83), which afford some insights into

Dominican burial contexts. The excavations revealed that burials occurred within

the church and the claustral range, and included male, female and immature

individuals. Significantly, it was observed that those individuals displaying the

most serious injuries were buried within the church, and it was suggested that they

were ‘presumably’ knights or warriors who had died in battle from weapon injuries

(ibid, 83). The craftsmanship displayed on the grave-slabs at Athenry and the obits

recorded in the Register serve to highlight the importance of the Dominican priory

at Athenry and the patronage that it enjoyed from the de Bermingham and de

Burgh families, in addition to other Anglo-Norman and Gaelic lords. While it is

unknown who the surviving slabs commemorate, it is probable that at least some of

the individuals mentioned in the Register rank amongst their number.

13 None of the high-medieval slabs are in-situ.

26

Fig. 11. Slab A Fig. 12. Slab B Fig. 13. Slab C

Fig. 14. Slab D Fig. 15. Slab E Fig. 16. Slab F

Fig. 17. Slab G Fig. 18. Slab H Fig. 19. Slab I Fig. 20. Slab J Fig. 21. Slab K

(Slabs H-K after Macalister 1913, 213-19)

27

Plate 30. Trapezoidal tomb-lid Fig. 22. Gable-end decoration

Discussion The priory church was built c.1241 and consisted of a long rectangular building

containing a chancel and nave lit by lancet windows. The elongated rectangular

plan constitutes the usual layout of Dominican churches in their initial years (Rae

1987, 751; Leask 1960, 21) and was adopted at the Dominican priories of St.

Mary’s of the Isle, Cork (Hurley and Sheehan 1995, 47), Rathfran, Co. Mayo

(Leask 1960, 117-8), and at Cashel, Co. Tipperary (ibid, 93). Nothing survives of

the initial entrance to the church except a recess in the west gable that probably

marks the site of the main doorway, and only the internal arch and moulded pillars

remain of the initial east gable window. Three tomb-niches that include decorative

motifs of Romanesque and Transitional style, and which represent some of the last

examples of ‘School of the West’ architecture in Ireland, are incorporated into the

south wall of the nave. Both historical and comparative evidence suggests that

claustral and domestic buildings were also built at, or soon after, the construction

of the church, and though none of those buildings survive there are some physical

remains of their former location. Traces of an ambulatory roof and doorways along

the south wall of the nave indicate that, in accordance with the commonly adopted

Cistercian abbey plan (Leask 1960, 14), the cloister and domestic ranges at

Athenry were located to the south of the church. This is confirmed in the modern

street layout of that part of the town.

Structural evidence reveals that the north transept and aisle were later additions to

the church, however, the exact date of that work is unclear. Architectural features

such as windows, mouldings, string-courses, tool-marks and the aisle-arcade

confirm a high-medieval date, but do not distinguish between the late thirteenth

and early fourteenth centuries. There is also no discernable difference between the

masonry of the chancel/nave and that of the transept/aisle. One other seemingly

incongruous architectural feature (the arcade capital with nail-head ornamentation)

is found within the transept which contradicts the phasing of the church. The

‘arcade’, however, was reconstructed, and the capital must have originated in the

chancel or nave. Indeed, the absence of any in-situ Transitional architecture within

the transept or aisle supports the argument that they were constructed after the

chancel and nave. Transitional architecture also survives at Athenry’s thirteenth-

century keep-castle, so it is assumed that if the transept and aisle were

contemporary with the castle and the chancel/nave, they too would display some

characteristic ‘School of the West’ motifs. Given that the transept and aisle were

later additions to the church but cannot be precisely dated through the architectural

remains, it is tempting to follow the chronological sequence suggested in the

Register. According to that source ‘William Walys was buried in the Chapel of the

28

Blessed Virgin in 1344, which he had finished building after it was begun up to the

bases of the windows some time earlier by Mac a Wallayd de Bermingham’

(Coleman 1912, 206). Though neither the transept nor the aisle are specifically

referred to in the Register, one of the main functions of a transept was to provide

space for an additional chapel (Fawcett 2002, 27; Friar 1996, 95). Accordingly, it

is plausible that the transept was built to accommodate the Chapel of the Blessed

Virgin ‘some time earlier’ than 1344.

In addition to the transept and aisle, other alterations were carried out at the church

during the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century. New windows were added to

the east and west gables and also to the north and south presbytery walls; the choir

was also enlarged (not extended) by moving the rood-screen westwards, and at

least one tomb-niche was added. Evidence also suggests that a sacristy was built

during that period, though the current building is predominantly later in date.

Further alterations and structural work was undertaken in the fifteenth century,

including the erection of a crossing-tower, the replacement of a number of

windows, the blocking of doors, alterations to the cloister and the reduction of the

aisle arcade.

In conclusion, the architectural and monumental remains of the Dominican priory

at Athenry reveal a dynamic building which enjoyed two main periods of

construction during the high-medieval period that broadly comply with the

historical evidence contained in the Regestum Monasterii Fratrum Praedicatorum

De Athenry (Coleman 1912, 201-21). By objectively examining and interpreting

both of those sources a chronological sequence of events has been established for

the priory. Perhaps one of the most significant discoveries made was the apparent

cooperation between the Anglo-Norman and Irish aristocracy with regard to the

building and continued support of the priory, though Watt (1972, 64) argues that

‘the harmonious relationship between the two nations [Gaelic and Anglo-Norman]

in religious matters exemplified in Athenry was far from unique’. Athenry was

very much an Anglo-Norman town, yet Gaelic names rank high amongst the

benefactors of the priory and it is suggested that their influence can also be seen in

the fabric of the church. The ‘School of the West’ architecture evident on a number

of tomb-niches was, according to Leask (1960, 53), predominantly ‘the

architectural expression’ of the Irish kings of Thomond and Connacht. Indeed, the

apogee of that style, as seen at Killaloe and Corcomroe in Co. Clare; Kilmacduagh

and Clonfert in Co. Galway; Ballintober in Co. Mayo and Boyle Abbey, Co.

Roscommon was reached under the patronage of Gaelic lords in the first half of the

thirteenth century (ibid, 53-76). It could be argued, therefore, that this architectural

style serves as a cultural indicator representing the input of the Gaelic lords. The

contribution that women made to the priory is also well documented in the

Register, though architectural evidence of this remains more elusive. Despite the

political and cultural division of the Anglo-Norman and Gaelic nobility, the

Dominican Order at Athenry clearly benefited from cooperation, or perhaps

competition, between the two ‘nations’, revealing that the frontier society of that

region was not as polarised as might be expected. It is also significant that the

quality and quantity of sculptural architecture and funerary monuments at the

priory is indicative of significant patronage that is unparalleled in the de Burgh

caput at Loughrea or his port town of Galway. Like the castle and town walls, the

29

priory is symbolic of the wealth and status of Athenry and its de Bermingham

lords.

This paper is dedicated to Markus Casey, a fine archaeologist and a dearly missed

friend. I also thank Dr. Elizabeth FitzPatrick at NUI, Galway for all her help and

encouragement, and my wife Angela for her tireless support, patience and

enthusiasm.

Bibliography

Blake, M.J. 1902 The Abbey of Athenry. JGAHS II, 65-90.

Blake, M.J. 1911-12 Notes on the Persons named in the Obituary Book of the

Franciscan Abbey at Galway. JGAHS VII, 1-28.

Bradley, J. 1985b The Medieval Tombs of St. Canice’s Cathedral. In S. Barry, J.

Bradley and A. Empey (eds.), A Worthy Foundation: The Cathedral Church of St.

Canice, Kilkenny, 49-101. Portlaoise.

Bradley, J. and Dunne, N. 1990 Urban Archaeological Survey, Part XIX, County

Galway. O.P.W.

Coleman, A. 1912 Regestum Monasterii Fratrum Praedicatorum Athenry.

Archivium Hibernicum 1, 201-221. Dublin.

Coppack, G. 1993 Abbeys and Priories. London.

De Burgo, T. 1762 Hibernica Dominicana.

Fawcett, R. 1984 Scottish Medieval Window Tracery. In D.J. Breeze (ed.), Studies

in Scottish Antiquity, 148-87. Edinburgh.

Fawcett, R. 2002 Scottish Medieval Churches: Architecture and Furnishings.

Gloucestershire.

Forrester, H. 1972 Medieval Gothic Mouldings: A Guide. London.

Friar, S. 1996 A Companion to the English Parish Church. Gloucestershire.

Greene, J.P. 1992 Medieval Monasteries. London.

Grose, F. 1791 The Antiquities of Ireland. London.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland. London.

Hogan, A. 1991 Kilmallock Dominican Priory. Kilmallock.

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish Medieval Figure Sculpture 1200-1600. vol.2. Dublin.

30

Hurley, M.F. and Sheehan, C.M. 1995 Excavations at the Dominican Priory, St.

Mary’s of the Isle, Crosse’s Green, Cork. Cork.

Leask, H.G. 1960 (reprinted 1990) Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings vol II,

Dundalk.

Macalister, R.A.S. 1913 The Dominican Church at Athenry. JRSAI 43, 196-222.

Maher, D. 1997 Medieval Grave Slabs of County Tipperary, 1200 – 1600 A.D.

BAR British Series, 262. Oxford.

McKeon, J. 2008 Anglo-Norman Frontier Urban Settlement in the Plantagenet

Realm: Studies from South Connacht. Unpublished PhD Thesis, NUI Galway.

Morris, R.K. 1992 An English Glossary of Medieval Mouldings: with an

introduction to mouldings c.1040-1240. Architectural History, 35, 1-17.

Ó Héideáin, E. 1991 The Dominicans in Galway 1241-1991. Galway.

O’Heyne, J. 1706 Irish Dominicans (Epilogus Chronologicus). translated by A.

Coleman 1902 The Ancient Dominican Foundations of Ireland. Dundalk.

O’Keeffe, T. 2003 Romanesque Ireland: Architecture and Ideology in the Twelfth

Century. Dublin.

Péterváry, T. 2008 Excavation at Cross Street, Athenry, County Galway:

Archaeological Preliminary Report.

Power, C. 1995 A medieval demographic sample. In M.F. Hurley and C.M.

Sheehan, Excavations at the Dominican Priory, St. Mary’s of the Isle, Crosse’s

Green, Cork, 66-83. Cork.

Rae, E. 1987 Architecture and Sculpture, 1169-1603. In A. Cosgrove (ed.), A New

History of Ireland, 736-77. Oxford.

Rynne, E. 1991 1241-1991 750th Anniversary of the founding of the Dominican

Priory of Saints Peter and Paul Athenry. Athenry Historical Society. Galway.

Ware, J. 1654 De Hibernia, et Antiquitatibus ejus. Dublin.

Watt, J. 1972 The Church in Medieval Ireland. Dublin.