Ballindoon Monastery

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North-east view of the monastery with, from left to right, the choir, the tower, the north transept and the nave

The monastery Ballindoon ( Irish Prióireacht Bhaile to Dúin , English Ballindoon Priory ) was a Maria hallowed house of the Dominicans on the northern shore of Lough Arrow in County Sligo , which was founded in 1507 by Thomas O'Farrell and around 1585 in the wake of the Reformation was lifted.

Geographical location

While the earlier foundings of the Dominicans in the 13th century mostly took place in cities or church centers, in the 15th and 16th centuries there was a preference for rural and remote areas, which made it easier to strictly adhere to the mendicant ideals. The monastery is located on the north bank of Lough Arrow just half a kilometer from Ballindoon Castle , a fortification that was conquered and destroyed in 1352 by Hugh O'Conor but was later rebuilt by the MacDonaghs, who were based there when it was founded had. While the terrain rises slowly on the northeast side of the monastery, it drops steeply about six meters on the lake side.

history

North view of the monastery with Lough Arrow in the background

Ballindoon is the last Dominican foundation in Ireland before the Reformation. Since the land belonged to the MacDonaghs, the name of the founder, Thomas O'Farrell, is a mystery as it is part of the Longford family. O'Sullivan points to an entry in the Connacht annals in which a Thomas O'Farrell is named as prior who is killed along with his three sons. However, since the connection of an office as prior with a secular family life would only be permissible in the form of a commendary prior , the question of how he could take such a position in a foreign domain remains open.

The 1585 survey found the church, a cemetery, and about four acres of land, valued at 6 shillings and 8 pence . When Melaghlin Oge MacDonagh died in 1588, the property went to his widow as a fief . Ballindoon later fell to Sir Francis Crofton.

architecture

Access to the monastery is through a passage with a beveled pointed arch and a roof on the outside in the north wall of the nave. In the nave there are two windows, one with three-part, Gothic tracery on the west side and a simpler, two-part window with keel arches .

The tower seen from the nave

The monastery impresses with its unusual tower, which, according to Leask, is actually not a tower due to its low height and unusual shape, but rather a screen between the nave and the choir, which can accommodate a bell at its top, but only slightly protrudes the rest of the church roof rises. It is unusually narrow from west to east and has gables on the north and south sides and a raised area in the middle, which also had gables to the west and east. Next to the central passage to the choir are two arches on the left and right, which apparently served as side altars. There are also three openings above, which act like a gallery. Leask suspects that there were statues in the openings to the left and right and a crucifix in the middle, which was emphasized by the illuminated choir behind. This construction is unique in Ireland.

The choir has two windows on the north side and a central window on the east side, similar to the one on the west side, but with four sections. The narrow arched windows on the north side are one or two-part. On the south side there is a passage from which a stone external staircase can be reached, which leads to the gallery on the first floor of the tower.

literature

  • Aubrey Gwynn , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses in Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X .
  • Thomas S. Flynn: The Irish Dominicans 1536-1641 . Four Courts Press, Dublin 1993, ISBN 1-85182-122-8 .
  • Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman, Sheila Ronan, Connie Murphy: Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo . Volume I: South Sligo. Stationery Office, Dublin 2005, ISBN 0-7557-1942-5 .
  • Benedict O'Sullivan: Medieval Irish Dominican Studies . Ed .: Hugh Fenning. Four Courts Press, Dublin 2009, ISBN 978-1-84682-151-6 .

Web links

Commons : Ballindoon Priory  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ Gwynn, p. 222.
  2. ↑ Flynn, p. 4.
  3. ↑ Egan et al., P. 486, entry 2893.
  4. ↑ Egan et al., P. 397, entry 2610.
  5. ^ O'Sullivan, p. 86.
  6. ↑ The entry is 1527.21.
  7. ^ O'Sullivan, p. 86.
  8. ^ Gwynn, p. 222.
  9. ↑ Egan et al., Pp. 397-398.
  10. ↑ Harold G. Leask: Irish Churches and Monastic Buildings . Volume three. Dundalgan Press, Dundalk 1960, pp. 54-55 .
  11. ↑ Egan et al., P. 398.

Coordinates: 54 ° 4 ′ 58.1 ″  N , 8 ° 19 ′ 23.8 ″  W.