Religious house - Augustinian canons

The National Monuments Service's description

The following description is derived from both the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986) and the 'Archaeological Survey of County Louth' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1991). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.
Date of upload/revision: 17 July 2007

The only standing remains are parts of a large medieval church. The site is thought to have been founded by St Mochta in the sixth century but the monastery of the Virgin Mary (the present remains) was refounded in 1148 (CLAJ 1942, 103). The church is very long (c. 46.5m); the basal portion of a wall projecting from the S wall is possibly the remains of a central tower or a rood screen with loft over. In the Visitation Books of 1690 there is mention of a steeple with three bells therein (Leslie 1908, 195), which may refer to a central bell-tower. The standing remains are built of roughly coursed limestone, rubble and greywacke. Two thirds of the N wall have been destroyed down to ground level and replaced with a modern one. The nave has the remains of a three-light traceried window high up in the W gable, constructed of grey sandstone dressed by diagonal tooling. The remains of a doorway, now narrowed and rebuilt, are situated in the S wall c. 8m from the SW angle. It is flat-headed with large plain lintels and limestone slab sill stones. There are the remains of one window in the S wall near the cross-wall but it has been broken out and is now used to give access to the church. Davies published a photograph of the interior of the window (CLAJ 1942, pl. 1) but the scale is very small. It was later published at a much larger scale by Harbison (1973, pl. 1) and this shows the decorative detail on the corbel capitals. The E one has bands of dog-tooth decoration alternating with a filleted rolled moulding. Below the capital are the remains of a badly carved head. On the W one there are stylised leaves in low relief topped by dog-tooth decoration with rope moulding. There appears to be a cat-like head below the capital (Harbison 1973, 39). The original N wall of the nave has been destroyed and replaced with a modern wall which has removed nearly all evidence for a stairwell that was once in the NW angle. The nave is c. 7.8m wide internally by c. 18.5m long up as far as the cross-wall which protrudes from the S wall by a max. of 0.8m and is c. 1.5m thick.

The chancel has the remains of four windows in the S wall and a blocked doorway in the N. The two most easterly windows have the remains of three lights with tracery constructed of moulded and diagonally tooled limestone mixed with a few pieces of sandstone. The third window from the E shows no evidence of its tracery but its two-centred arch and jambs are also of limestone and it was almost certainly the same as the other two. The fourth or most westerly one, close to the cross-wall, has been rebuilt and reduced in size. The later external buttress would have blocked off most of the W half of the original window which has a rounded arch of light grey sandstone with a double chamfer. Buttresses along the S wall of the church are obviously a later addition since in some instances they cover the original window jambs and they are not equidistant from the opes.

The E window is now partially blocked and has the remains of tracery in moulded and diagonally tooled limestone mixed with sandstone. The ope is surmounted by a drip moulding with small head-finials. It can be clearly seen that the present window remains have been inserted into the blocking of a much wider and taller window whose arch almost reached the top of the gable. The earlier arch is the same shape as the later one, being pointed and two-centred, and it follows the same line. It is also constructed of moulded limestone but none of its tracery remains. There is a tomb recess in the S wall between the first and second windows from the E end. It is 3.2m wide with hood moulding of limestone over. There is clear evidence of diagonal tooling on one of its E jamb stones.

Three pieces of Romanesque decorated stone are to be found on the site. Two are built into the W pillar of the graveyard gateway, one being decorated with pellet moulding and the other with a simple rolled moulding. The third piece is built into the exterior of the S wall of the chancel close to the top of the third buttress from the E and is decorated with pellets (Harbison 1973, pl. 4A). A series of buttresses are attached to the E and S walls and must be of recent origin. Rows of joist holes in the surviving fragment of the original N wall would suggest that a building several storeys high abutted it. In the N wall of the chancel are the remains of two windows and a doorway with two-centred arch. They are now all blocked up and most of their dressed stone removed. The 1895 ed. of the OS 6-inch map marks the position of a round tower to the S of the church in the present graveyard, a portion of which still remained in 1835 (Tempest 1952b, 126). (CLAJ 1942, 103-6; Harbison 1973, 39-42; Bradely 1985, 8-22)

See the attached view of the interior of the E end

References

Harbison, P. 1973a New light on St Mary's Abbey, Louth. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 18 (1), 39-42.

Bradley, J. 1985c The medieval borough of Louth: an archaeological study. County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 21 (1), 8-22.