Religious house - Franciscan friars

The National Monuments Service's description

On the S bank of the River Suir, on the E side of Abbey Hill Road in Carrickbeg. It is partly incorporated in modern St. Molleran's RC church. This Franciscan friary was founded in 1336 by James Butler, first Earl of Ormond, supposedly on the site of the initial manor castle (Bradley 1985, 41). The first guardian, Friar Clyn, wrote that the said James Butler 'gave the franciscans his castle as a friary at Carrick' (Crowley 1978, 7). Construction of the friary appears to have been slow as twelve years after the foundation date the friars were granted land by the second Earl for a dwelling-house, out-buildings, a church and an oratory (Crowley 1978, 8), with the proviso that twelve friars could be suitably maintained (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 243). According to tradition the church was in ruins by 1447 when it was re-founded by Edward Mac Richard Butler (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 143). In 1540, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the friary was surrendered by the then prior William Cormoke. At this time the friary possessed 'a church and steeple, chapter-house, dormitory, hall, three chambers, kitchen, stable and gardens...the buildings being ruinous and accounted of no value (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 243-4). The friary was subsequently granted to James Butler, the then current Earl of Ormond. The RC parish church of St. Molleran, built in 1827, incorporates the tower, part of the N wall and W doorway of the original friary church. The latter appears to have been c. 6.4m longer and narrower than the present church (Crowley 1978, 18). A drawing dating to c. 1702 and another from the 18th century indicate a large arched opening in the W end of the N wall, which may have lead to a side chapel. In the W gable there is a very fine 14th-century pointed doorway (H c. 6m) executed in sandstone. The capitals are beautifully decorated, that on the N side with a series of four female heads, beneath which is a male head wearing a type of mitre (Hunt 1974, vol.1, 220, ii pl. 126). The ornamentation on the S capital consists of dog-tooth, roll-moulding and a foliage motif. Also in the W gable, inserted above the central window, there is a limestone armorial plaque which is possibly of 17th-century date. The N wall, (L c. 32.5m), incorporates much of the friary, including an unusual hanging tower which is supported by a large pyramidal corbel. A three-storey bellcote (dims. 3.4m square externally) also projects out of the N wall. It is possible that this structure, which may be of 15th-century date, was built up against the E wall of the former side chapel. The tower was lit by long rectangular opes at first and second-floor level in the E wall and the bellcote itself surmounts the N wall. There is a 19th-century buttress at the NE corner of the church, one of the quoins of which is a reused stone with a projecting carved head. A 16th/17th-century graveslab (TS085-004014-) is embedded in the ground at the base of the S wall of the present church, near the SW corner. An effigy (TS085-004039-) from the friary, illustrated in 1781 by Austin Cooper (Price 1942, 20, plate 31; Harbison 2000, 56-7) is now missing.

Compiled by: Jean Farrelly

Date of upload: 26 August 2011

References

Hunt, J. 1974 Irish medieval figure sculpture 1200-1600, 2 vols. Dublin. Irish University Press.

Price, L. (ed.) 1942 An eighteenth-century antiquary: the sketches, notes and Diaries of Austin Cooper, 1759-1880. Dublin.

Crowley, W. 1978 The friary church, Carrickbeg. Carrick-on-Suir. The Friary.

Harbison, P. 2000 Cooper's Ireland: drawings and notes from an eighteenth-century gentleman. Dublin. O'Brien Press Ltd.