Monastery Cross

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Coordinates: 54 ° 12 '32.3 "  N , 10 ° 5' 0.4"  W.

East gable of the monastery church with the island of Inishglora in the background

The Monastery Cross ( Irish Mainistir na Croise , English Cross Abbey ) was from the Abbey Ballintubber as one of the Virgin Mary consecrated dependent and Diocese of Killala belonging Priory of Augustinian canons on the west coast of the peninsula to Muirthead in County Mayo , Ireland established, and 1400 by Boniface IX. approved. It was not, however, a completely new foundation, but rather a takeover of an early Christian monastery, which had its origins in the 6th century founding of St. Brendan's on the island of Inishglora . Around the 10th century the community moved from the island to the opposite coast of the peninsula, where the House of the Augustinian Canons was later founded. Around 1584 the monastery was closed as part of the Reformation .

Geographical location

Southeast view of the church ruins

While the early Christian monastery on the island of Inishglora faced the extreme eastern tip of An Muirthead with a view of the sandy beach stretching over a kilometer and a half and the dunes behind, the Monastery of Cross offered a rear-facing view of the old monastery to the west. The Cross Monastery is located on a small elevation that closes the beach to the north and forms a small cape . According to local tradition, described by Caesar Otway, the cape used to almost reach the island, so a longer board was enough to serve as a bridge. Later, a rope is said to have been stretched from coast to coast for a ferry. However, this has become increasingly difficult because of coastal erosion . In 1841, Otway told of an elderly man who could still remember that it was possible to drive a wagon between the coast and the church tower. In the meantime, nothing can be seen of the church tower, and even in 1914 Westropp reported that the western part of the nave had become a victim of erosion, so that only the eastern part of the church has been preserved. Traces of possible outbuildings of the monastery are not preserved.

history

Due to the complex history of the monastery, several patron saints are mentioned in papal correspondence. Because of the early Christian foundation, the St. Brendan's monastery remained connected, and the Holy Cross was probably added through the mother house .

Some land belonged to the monastery, when the monastery was abolished three quarters were given. The subprior of the monastery, who was also canon in Ballintubber, had to transfer the majority of the income to the mother house. In 1442 and 1448 one of the canons in Cross asked the Pope to transfer to Ballintubber, as Cross was too poor and in need of repair.

The monastery was closed around 1584. In 1618 it belonged to Sir Theobald Bourke and was transferred to Michael Barrett that same year. In 1656, several lands belonged to the former monastery with areas of two quarters, 400 acres and 88 acres. In 1676 the property fell to Sir Arthur Shaen.

architecture

Floor plan of the church ruin, created in 1913 by Thomas Westropp

Only the eastern part of a not quite rectangular church is preserved, the inside width of the east gable is approx. 5.4 m, which narrows further to the west at the height of the door in the south wall to approx. 4.9 m. The frame of the east window has not been preserved, but the reveal , which opens wide inward , is made of white stones that visually stand out from the rest of the masonry. The north-east corner of the church is almost completely destroyed. In the south wall there are two simple windows and further outside to the west a door, the lintel of which is no longer preserved. In the middle of the church is a longer stone tomb that divides the nave. There are four steles of different heights on this grave. They are very weathered, but the traces that can still be seen have given rise to speculation that they may have been Ogham stones .

Web links

Commons : Cross Priory  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ^ WH Bliss, JA Twemlow (Ed.): Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland . Volume 5: 1398-1404, 1904, Lateran Regesta 81: 1399-1401, pp. 321–337 ( british-history.ac.uk [accessed June 20, 2014] entry 10 Kal. May. St. Peter's, Rome. (F. 254.) ).
  2. ^ A b c d e Aubrey Gwynn , R. Neville Hadcock: Medieval Religious Houses Ireland . Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-11229-X , pp. 153,168,387 .
  3. ^ Caesar Otway: Sketches in Erris and Tyrawly . William Curry, Dublin 1841, p. 90.97 .
  4. ^ A b c Thomas Johnson Westropp: The Promontory Forts and Early Remains of the Coasts of County Mayo. Part III. The Mullet (Continued) . In: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland . Sixth Series, Vol. 4, No. 1 , 1914, p. 75-78 .
  5. ↑ Lord Killanin, Michael V. Duignan: The Shell Guide to Ireland . 2nd Edition. Ebury Press, London 1967, pp. 117 .
  6. ↑ Quarter ( Irish ceathrú , "quarter") as area measure go back to the traditional division of area of ​​the townlands , whereby in Connacht a townland ( Irish baile ) was divided into four quarters. See p. 318 ff. In Thomas McErlean: The Irish Townland System of Landscape Organization . In: Terence Reeves-Smyth, Fred Hamond (Eds.): Landscape Archeology in Ireland . British Archaeological Reports, Oxford 1983, ISBN 0-86054-216-5 , pp. 315-339 .