Ross Errilly
The monastery Ross Errilly (also Rosserrilly , Rosseriall Friary , Ross Friary , Irish Mainistir an Rois , Mainistir Ros Oirialaigh ) is a former Franciscan monastery in the far north of Galway County in Ireland .
The ruins of Ross Errilly Friary are about two kilometers northwest of Headford and about 150 meters from the Black River , which flows six kilometers further into Lough Corrib (lake). The river forms the border between Galway and Mayo counties .
Ross Errilly is one of the better preserved medieval Franciscan monasteries in the country. The church with a central square bell tower (from 1498) belongs to the monastery. A kitchen (with an oven and a water tank for fish), a bakery and the refectory , the dining room, can be identified under the almost completely preserved outer walls of the monastery rooms on the ground floor . A special feature for Franciscan monasteries is a second courtyard. The monks' dormitories were on the upper level, which had not been preserved. Like other abandoned Christian sites in Ireland, the grounds of Ross Errilly Church have been used as a cemetery. In addition to those from the active period of the friary, tombs from the 18th to 20th centuries can be found inside the church. In some cases, grave slabs lie on the ground.
history
Based on the annals of the four masters , the monastery was founded in 1351 by Raymond de Burgh from a local Cambro-Norman family and expanded during the 15th century. The history of the Franciscans by Ross Errilly is marked by displacement, persecution and reconstruction.
- In 1538 the English occupiers killed an indefinite number of monks who were in opposition to Henry VIII .
- At the beginning of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558, the abbey was handed over to Richard Sassanach Burgh, 2nd Earl of Clanricarde (d. 1582). The descendant of the founder gave them back to the Franciscans.
- In 1584, the English crown again confiscated the monastery and gave it to a nobleman who drove away the monks and looted the buildings. Already in 1586 Ulick Burke the 3rd Count of Clanrickarde bought the friary and gave it back to the Franciscans.
- At the end of the 16th century, the crown drove the monks out again and used the monastery as a garrison. In 1604 a Richard Burke 4th Earl of Clanrickarde returned Ross Errilly and financed the repair.
- In 1612 Arthur Chichester 1st Baron Chichester (Lord Deouty of Ireland) called on William Daniel, who was not on the list of archbishops of Tuam , to close the abbey and expel the monks.
- Eight monks return to Ross Errilly in 1626 and enjoy a quarter of a century of relative peace.
- During Oliver Cromwell's campaigns in Ireland, Ross Errilly served as a refuge for the Catholic clergy who had been driven from other parts of Ireland. In August 1656, Cromwell's men reached Ross Errilly and destroyed it. The 140 clerics had fled hours earlier. Legend has it that the monks previously took the bell from the tower and sunk it in the nearby Black River, where it is still located today.
- In 1660 Charles II ascended the throne in England. His nominally tolerant policy allowed the abbey to be repaired in 1664.
- The revolution of 1688 led to renewed persecution of the Catholic clergy. Again Ross Errilly was abandoned.
- The records show that the monks were back in 1712, but left the abbey again for some unknown reason in 1731. What is certain is that they came back again in 1753. The property was now owned by Baron George St. George, a local nobleman. At that time the Penal Laws were in effect and St. George risked his life supporting the monks. He was reported, learned of the charges, and the monks evacuated the monastery for the last time.
- They built a new home on a small island in the Black River, about a mile downstream. The island (which no longer exists) became known as "Monk's Island". For 36 years they celebrated Sunday masses in the old abbey building. By 1801 the number of monks had dropped to three, although masses were regularly read until 1804. In 1832 the parish stopped using Ross Errilly. The geographer Samuel Lewis noted in his 1837 topographical dictionary of Ireland that "one of the windows is still perfectly intact," but the roof had collapsed by 1812.
Web links
literature
- Canice Mooney: The Friary of Ross: Foundation and Early Years , In: Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society, 29 1960 pp. 7-14
- Roger Stalley: The End of the Middle Ages: Gothic Survival in Sixteenth-Century Connacht , In: The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 133 2003 pp. 5–23
- Peter Harbison : Pre-christian Ireland - From the first Settlers to the early Celts . London 1988, p. 101 ISBN 0-500-27809-1
Coordinates: 53 ° 28 '47 " N , 9 ° 7' 53" W.