Religious house - Dominican friars

The National Monuments Service's description

On the S-facing slope of a drumlin, close to its base and flanked by a road on the SE side and in the centre of a graveyard (SL039-002002-). The remains of Cloonameehan Dominican priory consist of a rectangular church (ext. 18.7m E-W; 7.8m N-S) and a range of conventual buildings (ext. dims.: 14m N-S; 7.9m E-W) to the N, forming an overall L-shape in plan (both E walls are in line). It is built of rubble limestone set in lime mortar. The N wall of the church is entirely missing except for short sections at either end. The W gable is featureless and reduced to the height of the side-walls. The S wall stands to full height but has a major structural crack near its W end. Near its centre are the remains of a narrow window ope and near its E end is an inward-facing doorway which is missing its surround. Just short of the SE corner is a poorly preserved piscina (Wth 0.55m; H 0.8m), covered by a rounded arch with a chamfered edge, with a shallow octagonal bowl. The E gable stands to near full height. It has a central window with a double ogee-headed cusped light and a hood-moulding - the entire S jamb is missing (see Conlan 2002, fig. 11); the internal edge of the frame is moulded to house shuttering. Most of the S wall of the conventual range is missing and the other three sides stand only to ground-floor level and are missing most of their facing-stones. Enough evidence survives to show that this 2-storey range had three bluntly pointed wicker-centred E-W vaults covering its ground floor. Each vaulted bay was lit by a window in the E wall. There was also a doorway at the N end of this wall. The only possible indication of a cloister are two corbels, c. 3.5m above present ground level, on the external face of the W wall. This is the remains of a Dominican priory founded in 1488 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 223; Conlan 2002, 224). The surviving architectural features, though fragmentary, are consistent with a late 15th-century construction date.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo' compiled by Ursula Egan, Elizabeth Byrne, Mary Sleeman with Sheila Ronan and Connie Murphy (Dublin Stationery Office, 2005).

Date of upload: 18 January 2008