Ecclesiastical site

The National Monuments Service's description

The 'Site of Monastery' located in the grounds of Twyford House may have been the site of Íseal Chiaráin, or the low place of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise (Cox 1969, 6-14; O'Donovan 1851, 824). Bealin High Cross (WM029-008----) removed from the grounds of Twyford house in the 18th century. Anglo-Norman motte castle (WM029-007----) 315m to NW and possible holy well (WM029-009001-) 100m to N. The S shoreline of Twy Lough lies 480m to NW.
Íseal Chiaráin, may be identified as the hospital of St. Queran [Ciarán] that was sometimes thought to be identical with the guesthouse of Clonmacnoise monastery (Kehnel 1997, 69). In the year 1031 the Annals recorded that ‘Conn-na mBocht, head of the Culdees, and anchorite of Cluain-mic-Nois, the first that invited a party of the poor of Cluain at Iseal Chiarain, and who presented twenty cows of his own to it. Of this was said: O Conn of Cluain! thou wert heard from Ireland in Alba; O head of dignity, it will not be easy to plunder thy church' (AFM).
In 1837 the Ordnance Survey recorded that the Bealin High Cross (WM029-008---) was, 'said to have been removed thither from an old graveyard (WM029-009002-) in Twy [ford] by the father of the present Lord Castlemaine [Reverend Richard Handcock]. No trace of this graveyard is now visible, but the cross proves that there was an ancient church there’ (OSL 1837, vol. 1, 68).
The monastery site was possibly located in a rectangular post-1700 walled paddock adjoining the SW side of the walled garden, in the rear grounds to NW of Twyford House. Annotated on the 1837 ed. OS 6-inch map as ‘Site of Monastery’. No surface remains visible of any fabric belonging to an ecclesiastical site or early Christian monastic site. The enclosing walls and features appear to be of late 18th or 19th-century date associated with the outbuildings of Twyford House.
This country house was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage [NIAH] as a 'Detached five-bay two-storey over basement country house, built c.1760, having single-bay wings to either end (east and west) a three-storey elevation to the rear (north). Now out of use and derelict' (www.buildingsofireland.ie). The outbuildings were described by the NIAH as a 'Complex of two-storey outbuildings and a stable block, arranged around two courtyards to the rear of Twyford House (15402911), built c.1820 and extended c.1850. Yards are linked by a segmental-headed carriage arch to the centre of the party range'.
Cox (1946, 62-3), identified Twyford [Tuogh/Tuaith Ford/ Ford of the Tuath] with Iseal Chiarain where a monastery was located. Cox (1969, 6-14) suggested that a portion of the ruins of a monastic building or church were incorporated into the wall of the garden of Twyford House. Cox (ibid), suggested that the parish church of Ballyloughloe (now Mount Temple WM030-045001-) was situated at Twyford until the fifteenth century.
A nunnery mentioned in Archdall’s Monastica Hibernia as at ‘Farrenmackligse’ or ‘Fareneheglis’, which was near Ballyloughloe, possibly refers to Twyford. According to Cox (1972, 24), this religious complex was raided by Murchadh, son of Conchobar Macleachlainn, in 1072. The site of a high cross (WM029-008----), a holy well (WM029-009001-), a hospital and a graveyard (WM029-009002-) are reputed to be associated with this ecclesiastical site.

Compiled by: Alison McQueen

Date of upload: 23 November 2018

References

AFM - Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. John O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint New York, 1966)

Kehnel, A. 1997 Clonmacnois – the church and lands of St. Ciarán : change and continuity in an Irish monastic foundation. Germany. Lit Verlag.

Cox, L. 1972 The O Maeleachlainn Kings of Meath. Ríocht na Mídhe V, 2,22-53.

Cox, L. 1969 Íseal Chiaráin, the low place of St. Ciarán, where was it situated. Journal of the Old Athlone Society 1, 6-14.