Religious house - Dominican friars

The National Monuments Service's description

The OS letters mention that a Dominican Friary was founded in Clonmel in 1269 (O'Flanagan 1930, vol. 3, 71). According to Lyons (1936, 288) the Dominican Priory was located on the W side of the junction between Blue Anchor Lane and O'Connell St. He refers to an ancient doorway 'in the Pointed style' in the cellar of the premises on the site (ibid.). In 1541 only two friaries, Carmelite and Franciscan, are mentioned in Clonmel and it has been suggested that the Dominican community of Clonmel were not established until shortly before 1643 and that it only existed until the Cromwellian persecution (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 232-3). There appear to have been four Dominican martyrs between 1649-51 (ibid.). When the Dominicans returned to Clonmel after the Restoration, they could not prove that theirs was an ancient foundation so that the Franciscans prevented them from remaining (ibid.). A sheela-na-gig (TS083-019048-) found in Blue Anchor lane in 1944 is thought to be associated with the Priory (Freitag 2004, 130). (Farrelly and FitzPatrick 1993, 75).

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of revised upload: 30 January 2015

References

Lyons, P. 1936 Norman antiquities of Clonmel burgh. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 66, 285-94.

Farrelly, J. and FitzPatrick, E. 1993 Urban archaeological survey - county Tipperary (South Riding) (2 vols.). Unpublished report commissioned by the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1930 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Tipperary collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1840. Bray.

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

Freitag, B. 2004 Sheela-na-gigs: unravelling an enigma. London. Routledge.