Religious house - Dominican friars

The National Monuments Service's description

On the N side of Youghal, outside the medieval walled town, to the S of a graveyard (CO067-030001-). The Dominican friary was founded by Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, 2nd Baron of Desmond, in 1268 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 231-2) though friar John Clyn in his annals notes the foundation as taking place in 1271 (Williams 2007). When he died in 1298, Thomas was buried in the friary. The foundation was originally dedicated to the Holy Cross, but this was later changed to Our Lady of Graces, due to its association with a ‘wonderworking’ image of the Virgin Mary, an ivory plaque with 'Madonna and Child', dating to c. 1300, now in the Dominican Priory in Cork (Flanagan and Hunt 1950, 1-14). The friary, ‘with six gardens within the liberties of Youghal’, was granted to William Walsh in 1581, to John Thickpenny, a soldier, in 1584, and finally in 1587 to Sir Walter Raleigh – it was apparently destroyed that same year (Coleman 1902, 51). Very little therefore survives of the friary buildings, and the remains consist only of the W gable of the church and two short sections of wall, approximately 30m to the E, indicating that the friary was oriented NE-SW.

At either end of the gable on its W side are two buttresses, while on the E side a short return of the N wall of the nave remains. Beyond the S-most buttress the wall continues, with the springing of an arch, likely to have been a window, indicating that there was a lateral aisle to the S of the nave. Above the W doorway, of which only the arched surround survives, is a window with tracery forming three graded lancet lights, grouped under a pointed hood (see photos in O'Sullivan 1945, opp. 101, and drawing in Hayman 1855, 335). Based on the section of N wall and scarring to the S of the gable indicating where the arcade separating the nave from its S aisle began, the width of the nave was roughly 7.5m. The only other remains of the friary are two short sections of wall located approximately 30m to the E of the W gable. One is oriented N-S and the other intersects with it at a perpendicular angle at its E end. This likely corresponds to the E wall of the S aisle or chapel, abutting against the S wall of the church, roughly at the point between the end of the nave and the beginning of the chancel. While little remains, a number of architectural and decorative features survive. At the W end of the N-S section are the remains of an engaged, clustered column, its capital decorated with a dogtooth motif, and above it the springing of a ribbed arch, likely part of the E-most arch of the arcade separating nave and S aisle. At the E end of the same section of wall is also the remains of an arch springing from a jamb with a moulded capital and shaft band with fillets and necking bands, which may have been the hood moulding of the W-most window in the S wall of the chancel. Finally, the E-W section of wall extending to the S also comprises the jamb and springing of the arch of a window, which would have been the E window of the S aisle, or one of the E windows of a S chapel.

Based on the architectural style of these features, which belong to the ‘early English’ era of Gothic design, Harbison dates these features to 'shortly after the foundation' (1977, 62). This means that the church was possibly planned and built with a lateral aisle, and possibly a S chapel, from the onset, as in Kilmallock Dominican friary (LI047-022018-). This is a particularly good comparative example, as the delicate shaft bands and capitals with fillets and necking bands surviving in the windows jambs are very reminiscent of the work featured in Kilmallock; the powerful 1st Earl of Desmond Maurice fitz Thomas FitzGerald (d. 1356), who was Youghal’s founder Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald’s son, is believed to have been involved in funding the construction of the S chapel in Kilmallock friary, and commissioning its decorative programme.

This is a National Monument in State Guardianship (no. 286)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 2: East and South Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1994). In certain instances, the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Photographs attached:
CO067-030002-_01: Aerial view of the friary, from S.
CO067-030002-_02: View of the remains from N.
CO067-030002-_03: W gable, from N.
CO067-030002-_04: Remains of walls, from S.
CO067-030002-_05: W window, from SW.
CO067-030002-_06: W gable from E.
CO067-030002-_07: Remains of column with capital and springing of arch, E end of S arcade.
CO067-030002-_08: Jamb of window with moulded capital, column and shaft band, S wall of chancel.
CO067-030002-_09: Jamb and springing of window arch, E wall of S aisle.
CO067-030002-_10: Ivory plaque with 'Madonna and Child', now in Cork Dominican Priory.

Date of upload/revision: 14 January 2009

Date of last revision: 14 July 2023

References

Hayman, S. 1855 The ecclesiastical antiquities of Youghal, No. II. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 3, 326-36.

O'Sullivan, D. 1945b Some mediaeval religious houses in the Barony of Imokilly, Co. Cork. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 50, 89-111.

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

Flanagan, U.G. and Hunt, J. 1950 Our Lady of Graces of Youghal. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 55, 1-14.

Coleman, A. 1902 The ancient Dominican foundations in Ireland. Dundalk. William Tempest.

Williams, B. (ed.) 2007 The Annals of Ireland by Friar John Clyn. Dublin. Four Courts Press.