Religious house - Franciscan friars

The National Monuments Service's description

On a NE-facing slope, close to the shore, on the E side of Sherkin island. This Franciscan priory was founded by Fineen O'Driscoll in 1449 though building probably did not commence until the 1460s (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 258-9). Described by Cochrane (1912, 6) as 'of moderate dimensions', the ruins consist of a church with domestic buildings around a cloister to the N. The church consists of a nave and chancel separated by an inserted tower, and a transept to the S of the nave, with two side chapels, separated from the nave by an arcade of three pointed arches on square piers. The E and W windows of the church are now missing their tracery, which was of 'switch-line type, but its sub-arches were round' (Leask 1960, Vol. 3, 107). The surviving windows in the transept and side chapels have twin pointed lights with a central mullion. The tower (H c. 15m) is very low by Franciscan standards; there is a vault over the ground level, pointed ribbed arches facing the nave and chancel, and the pointed terminal of the rib to the SE is decorated with a vine leaf motif.

The Friary was burnt in 1537 (Conlan 1988, 141) and subsequently repaired; the domestic buildings show evidence of many alterations and additions. The E range is vaulted over the ground floor; the W range ground was also vaulted but it has now collapsed. The S wall of the N range are gone; on inspection a neat pile of rubble in the centre of the garth had been built from 'an accumulation of debris' by the Board of Works (Cochrane 1912, 10). Later additions are a square gabled structure between the W and N ranges and a three storey sacristy between the E range and the choir. The church has long been used for burial and the ground level is now higher than the original floor level. Abutting the friary to the E are the remains of a fish palace (CO153-019003-).

In conjunction with the repair of the structure by the OPW, excavations were carried out in 1987 (Lynch 1987), and the results were published in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 2018 (Lynch, 55-127). The excavations revealed the layout of the cloister walks, which had been used for interment of burials from the earliest years of the foundation of the friary. A complex system of water management had been put in place by the friars; 'a series of stone-built drains ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th century' were uncovered, as well as a stone-built well (D 2.5m) of probable seventeenth-century date to the NW of the cloister buildings. Of particular note was the quantity and range of imported ceramics recovered from the vicinity of the friary. These ceramics, mostly of 16th and 17th century date, originated from Iberia, France, Germany, the Low Countries, China and Britain, and may be explained by the trading, fishing and piratical activities in neighbouring Baltimore Harbour and adjacent coastal areas.

This is a National Monument in State Ownership (no. 169).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Cork. Volume 1: West Cork' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1992). The entry was revised and updated in the light of recent research: see Ann Lynch, ‘The Franciscan friary on Sherkin Island, Co. Cork: excavations 1987-1990’, Vol. 123, (2018), 55-127.

Photographs attached
CO149-019002-_01: aerial view of the friary, from N.
CO149-019002-_02: view of the friary from NW.
CO149-019002-_03: view of friary N.
CO149-019002-_04: Exterior of friary from NE.
CO149-019002-_05: Interior of S transept, from SW.
CO149-019002-_06: Interior of chancel, from SW.
CO149-019002-_07: Interior of the E range, from N.
CO149-019002-_08: Interior of E range, from S.

Date of upload/revision: 14 November 2018.

References

Leask, H.G. 1960 (Reprint 1971, 1978 and 1985) Irish churches and monastic buildings, vol. III. Medieval gothic the last phases. Dundalk. Dundalgan Press.

Lynch, A. 1987 Sherkin Island Friary, Farranacoush. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1987: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 11. Bray. Wordwell.

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

Cochrane, R. 1912 Notes on the structures in the county of Cork vested in the Board of Works for preservation as ancient monuments, Parts 1-5. Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 18, 1-25, 57-75, 122-33, 175-81, 182-200.

Conlan, P. 1988 Franciscan Ireland. Mullingar. Lilliput Press.