Religious house - Franciscan friars

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture, on the SW bank of the Flesk River. The overgrown remains of a rectangular structure (18m NE-SW; 5.6m SE-NW) indicated by the lower courses of a rubble stone wall (T 1.05m; H 1.5m) with lime mortar, best preserved at SE. There is a depression in the interior at the S end. According to local information, this is part of a friary that was dismantled a number of years ago. A wall (T 0.55m; H 1m) runs to the SW from the river bank for c. 34m, passing within 2m of the NW side of the friary. A door ope (Wth 1m; H 2.2m) at the centre of this wall leads NW (L 10m) to a rectangular structure (2.5m N-S; 2m E-W) with stone walls (T 0.6m; H 1.8m), which is known locally as 'the flower house'. Two other cells described in the 1940s (ITA) in the immediate vicinity were not located. Stepping-stones occur in the river to the E and gave access across the river to a children's burial ground (KE067-071----) which is known as the 'friar's plot' (ITA). The Franciscans found a safe sanctuary here from the mother house at Muckross Abbey, up until 1780 (ITA). Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 256) refer to Faghbawn as a place of refuge for the friars.

Compiled by: Elizabeth Byrne, Ursula Egan and Sheila Ronan, Archaeological Survey Unit, University College, Cork.

Date of upload: 31 January 2011