Religious house - Cistercian monks

The National Monuments Service's description

In pasture on a low rise, c. 75m to the E of the Inny River, and within the N half of a graveyard (LF023-113016-). Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 125-6) note that the abbey ‘Flumen Dei’ was colonized in 1200 by the Cistercians from Mellifont (LH023-007002-), county Louth under the patronage of the O'Farrells of Annaly. The affiliation changed to Bective (ME031-026----) in 1228. According to Lewis (1837, vol. 1, 4), it was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and in 1475 it was burnt by the English. In 1568 the monastery was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Robert Dillon (ibid., 5). In 1592 it was surrendered to the English Crown (Langan 1942, 32) and in 1611 Robert Nangle of Ballysax in county Kildare was regranted the 'rectory of Shrowell otherwise Urre' (Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I, 214).
Surviving remains comprise the poorly preserved church. The cloister, which lay to its S, was flanked on its E side by a range of monastic buildings (L c. 20m), now collapsed. A late 16th-century tower house (LF023-113001-) was built at the SE end of the range.
The long rectangular church (ext. dims. 45.6m E-W; 9.5m N-S; wall T 1.05m) is built of roughly coursed limestone rubble. Three phases of construction are evident. Of the original building, dating to the late 12th/early 13th century, the chancel, remains of a possible crossing tower, the S wall of the nave and the foundations of the other walls are still identifiable. The lower springing stones of two arches in the S wall suggest the former presence of a S aisle. The second phase of construction dates to the late 16th century, probably after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536. During this period the chancel was converted into a church. The possible crossing tower was blocked up and three small, barrel-vaulted chambers (H 2.5-3m) were built within it; the central chamber accessed the chancel. A double bellcote was constructed on top of the W wall of the tower and this wall then acted as the W gable of the late-medieval church, which was accessed via a pointed chamfered sandstone doorway at the W end of the N wall. The nave of the original church was either abandoned at this time or may have been reused as residential quarters. There are a number of burials within it and a pathway associated with the graveyard cuts through its W end. In the 17th or early 18th century, the late-medieval church was again considerably modified when a smaller church was built within it. The N wall and E gable of the existing structure were reused (Stalley 1987, 241) and a new S wall and W gable were built within the original chancel, creating a much-narrower and shorter building (ext. dims. 12.9m E-W; 7.6m N-S; wall T 0.8m). Architectural features within this church include the 16th-century doorway in the N wall, with evidence of a destroyed window located off-centre to its E, and two destroyed windows in the S wall. These windows were described in the 19th century as being 'composed of limestone and were simply but chastely ornamented' (Langan 1942, 30). The two round-headed, lancet windows with internal roll moulding in the E gable date to the late 12th/early 13th century. The stonework is a mixture of early moulded sandstone and later chamfered limestone. Conservation works were undertaken in 2010 to the barrel-vaulted chambers in the possible crossing tower as they were showing signs of potential collapse. Soil removed from the floor over the chambers included 5.5 kg of disarticulated bone, representing the partial remains of several individuals. There was no indication that these were in situ burials and the reason for their deposition was unclear (Carroll 2013, 146-7). Earthworks (LF023-113009-) in the field to the N abbey may be associated with the monastery. A high cross (LF023-113006-) formerly located in the burial ground (LF023-113002-) c. 30m to the NE is now in the sacristy of the church (RC) in Abbeyshrule (see LF023-129----). An architectural fragment (LF023-113005-), also in the burial ground, may have been removed from a window or doorway of the abbey. It consists of a voussoir bearing the head of a bishop/abbot wearing a mitre. (Wilson 1897b, 433-4; McNamee 1940b, 34-5; M.J.M. 1943, 65; ITA Survey 1944; Ross 1971, 111-12; English 1971, 147-8; Moore 2007, No. 14)

Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan

Date of upload: 09 December 2013

References

Irish Tourist Association. Surveys undertaken in the 1940s for the Irish Tourist Association (now Fáilte Ireland) relating to ‘Natural features, antiquities, historic associations etc.' Extracts from these surveys were copied into the Topographical files of the Office of Public Works and these have been incorporated into the Sites and Monuments Record files (National Monuments Service).

Carroll, J. 2013 Abbeyshrule Abbey Conservation Project, Abbeyshrule: Disarticulated human remains. In I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 2010: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 146-147. Bray. Wordwell.

Cal. pat. rolls Ire., Jas I - Irish patent rolls of James I: facsimile of the Irish record commissioners' calendar prepared prior to 1830, with foreword by M.C. Griffith (Irish Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 1966)

Wilson, J.M. 1897 Miscellanea - The abbey of Shrule, Co. Longford. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 27, 433-4.

Stalley, R. 1987 The Cistercian monasteries of Ireland. London and New Haven. Yale University Press.

English, N.W. 1971 Field antiquities of County Longford. Journal of the Longford Historical Society 1(2), 146-55.

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

Moore, S. 2007 Archaeological monuments in County Longford. Longford. Longford County Council.

McNamee, J.J. 1940 Archdall on monastic foundations in the diocese of Ardagh. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 2, 33-44.

Ross, J.R. 1971 Abbeyshrule - Mainistir Sruthair. Journal of the Longford Historical Society 1(2), 111-12.

Lewis, S. 1837 A topographical dictionary of Ireland, 2 vols. London. Lewis and Co.

M.J.M. 1943 Monuments - 1. Abbeyshrule, 2. Barbacela, Castle Forbes. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 2, 65-6.

Langan, T. 1942 Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford. Journal of the Ardagh and Clonmacnoise Archaeological Society 2, 28-33.