Religious house - Augustinian canons

The National Monuments Service's description

Traditionally an early site, a church had been built by the 12th century which was granted to Clare Abbey (CL033-120----) by Donal Mor O'Brien in 1189. It is listed in the ecclesiastical taxation of 1302-06 and in 1421 is described as the conventual priory of St. Mary. It was suppressed c. 1543 but was still possessed by friars in 1584 and was repaired as a parish church in 1615 by Donagh, Earl of Thomond. It is situated on flat ground near the SW tip of a peninsula on Inchicronan Lough and has an associated graveyard (CL026-014002-).

The church (int. dims. 19.7m E-W; 5m N-S) is nearly complete (H 1.8-3m) with a round-headed E window (Wth 0.16m; H 1.2m), the head of which is decorated externally with carved foliage and spirals. At the centre of the S wall (T 0.7m) is an inserted doorway (Wth 0.84m; H 2m) with an external chamfer and a spud stone, but the top is missing. Towards the E end of the S wall are two inserted 14th-century pointed arches (Wth 2.35m; H 2.8m) leading to a transept (int. dims. 8m N-S; 5.3m E-W). There is a cornice and dressed drainage stones over the transept arches, and the S wall has a pointed window (Wth 0.8m; H 2.4m), originally of three lights. There is a blocked doorway or window in the E wall, outside of which is a mausoleum of the Butlers of Ballyline dating from the 18th century. The N wall of the church has an inserted and pointed chamfered doorway (Wth 0.7m; H 1.95m) with the small figure of a monk in prayer at the base of the E jamb. This leads to a 14th-century sacristy (int. dims. 4.6m N-S; 4m E-W) which has narrow lights on the N and E walls and corbels for an upper storey. At the W end of the church and attached to the S wall are two rooms of a domestic building, now with vaults of the Tierney family. The graveyard wall extending E from the SE angle of the transept has a late pointed chamfered doorway (Wth 1.12m; H 1.57m). Inchicronan Abbey is a National Monument in state care, no. 14. (Westropp 1900-02, 146; 1900, 133-5; Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 178)

The following images have been uploaded:
CL026-014001-_01.jpg Overall view from NE.
CL026-014001-_02.jpg View of E window from SE.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 24 October 2016

References

Westropp, T.J. 1900 Augustinian houses, Co. Clare, Clare, Killone and Inchicronan. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 30, 118-35.

Westropp, T.J. 1900-02 The churches of Co. Clare and the origin of the ecclesiastical divisions in that county. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Series 3, vol. 6, 100-180.

Gwynn, A. and Hadcock, R.N. 1970 (Reprint 1988) Medieval religious houses of Ireland. Dublin. Irish Academic Press.