Wall monument

The National Monuments Service's description

In Ballintubber abbey church (MA089-058004-), in the S wall of a chapel built in the space between the chancel and S transept, now used as the sacristy. 17th-century canopy tomb of Theobald Bourke, also known as Tibbot na Long Bourke, son of Grace O’Malley, the infamous pirate queen. After the defeat of the Armada, Theobald was rewarded with a knighthood for his support of Lord Mountjoy when the Spanish forces landed in Kinsale, and in 1627 he was created 1st Viscount Mayo (Egan 1967, 23). He married Maud, daughter of Charles O’Connor Sligo, and had four sons and three daughters. He died in 1629 and according to a local tradition he was killed near the abbey by his own brother-in-law Diarmuid O’Connor Sligo, though this might be confusing his death with the murder of another Bourke in 1505, recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters (Bourke 1984, 28). He was the first Bourke to be buried in the chapel, in this altar tomb with a large stone canopy. Other Viscounts Mayo were interred in the chapel after him, the last another Theobald, the 7th Viscount, in 1741 (Egan 1967, 24).

The canopy has a rounded arch with multifoils, under a large, square projecting hood decorated with three projecting corbels along the top, though only the central one survives in its entirety. On top of each corbel is a carved figure, the central one an angel, the other two perhaps a male and a female figure. The central, surviving corbel is decorated with low-relief carving of foliage and between the corbels are more low-relief carvings of stylised foliage and scrolls. The front of the tomb itself was decorated with low-relief carvings of the twelve apostles (Egan 1967, 23), though only half of the front panel survive, and five figures. The three to the right are St James, St Andrew, and St Peter. The figure on the far left has been tentatively identified as St Thomas, as he often was depicted with a spear and the figure appears to be holding one. In the first half of the 20th century at least one more figure still existed, captured by art historian Edwin C. Rae (TRIARC Digital Image Collection), and identified as St John. Two fragments of an inscription survive, now set against the wall above the tomb. It would have originally read ‘Here lies the body of Sir Tibbot na Long Bourke, First Viscount Mayo, in which all his posterity was buried, whereof four were Lords or Earls’ (Bourke 1984, 28).

Attached images:
MA089-058006-_1.JPG: View of the tomb from N
MA089-058006-_2.JPG: Detail of the corbels at the top of the canopy
MA089-058006-_3.JPG: Detail of the central corbel
MA089-058006-_4.JPG: Surviving section of the front panel
MA089-058006-_5.JPG: Carving of St John, which used to be part of the front of the tomb (TRIARC - Edwin Rae Collection (Digital Image Collection))
MA089-058006-_6.JPG: Surviving fragments of the tomb inscription

Compiled by: Anne-Julie Lafaye

Date of upload: 09 January 2022