Religious house - Augustinian, of Arrouaise nuns

The National Monuments Service's description

A convent of nuns may have been founded before 1195 as in that year the church of St Bridget of Odder, under the patronage of the Barnwall family, was confirmed to the Arroasian nuns of Clonard (Brady 1960, 5). Matilda Methe, the abbess, died in 1383 and was succeeded by Johanna, who had been abbess of Clonard (ME047-021----) since 1380, and Odder became the centre of the combined community from this time (Hall 2003, 154). Elizabeth, abbess of Odder, is recorded in 1478 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1971, 323). At the Suppression in 1540 Odder consisted of a parish composed of the detached townland of Odder, later absorbed into Tara parish, and Calliaghtown – derived from cailleach, an old woman or nun - now called Collierstown and absorbed into Skryne parish (Otway-Ruthven 1964, 122). When it was surrendered in 1540 by Margaret Sylke, the last abbess, the church was described as the parish church. There were 120 acres in demesne at Odder where five tenants leased 53 acres for customary dues. Eighty acres were held at Calliaghtown in Skreen, 60 acres at Clonard, 60 acres at Callaghton in Kells, and 60 acres at Callaghton near Fore (White 1943, 260-2).
The estate was granted to James Stanihurst c. 1557, to Richard Power in 1589, and in 1613 the church of St Bridget of Odder was granted to John Baxter (Cogan 1862-70, 1, 255-8). Ussher (1622) describes the church and chancel as ruined and says it was a chapel-of-ease to Tara (Erlington 1847-64, 1, Lxxix). It may be the chapel at Cookstown described under Skryne in Dopping’s visitation (1682-5) (Ellison 1972, 6), but otherwise there is no further record of it. Odder is assessed as a parish of 1204 acres (Lewis 1837, 2, 446), which suggests that other townlands, perhaps Colvinstown and Cookstown, now part of Skrine, were included in it. Odder was not recognised as a parish by the Ordinance Survey (1836 ed.). The precise location of the abbey and the parish church is not known, but it was probably in what is now Collierstown townland.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload: 28 January, 2015

References

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

Brady, Rev. J. 1960 The Nunnery of Clonard' Ríocht na Midhe 2, No. 2, 4-7.

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

Cogan, Rev. A. 1862-70 Ecclesiastical history of the diocese of Meath: ancient and modern. (3 vols) Dublin: John Fowler, Joseph Dollard

Ellison, Rev. C. C. 1971-5 Bishop Dopping's Visitation Book 1682-5, Ríocht na Mídhe, 5, 1, 28-39; 5, 2, 3-13; 5, 3, 3-11; 5, 4, 98-103; 6, 1, 3-13.

White, N.B. 1943 Extents of Irish monastic possessions, 1540-1541. Dublin. Irish Manuscripts Commission.

Hall, D. 2003 Women and the church in medieval Ireland, c. 1140-1540. Four Courts Press. Dublin.

Otway-Ruthven, A.J. 1964 Parochial development in the rural deanery of Skreen. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, 94, 111-22.

Erlington, C. R. (ed.) 1847-64 The whole works of the most Reverend James Ussher. 17 vols. Hodges and Smith, Dublin