Religious house - Monks of the Order of Tiron

The National Monuments Service's description

Located on a gentle E-facing slope with a slight fold just to the S and the seashere is c. 50m to the NE. Monks of the Order of Tiron founded St Mary's Priory at Glascarrig, which in 1193 was made a dependency by the Cauntetons or Condons of the daughter-house of St Dogmells' in Pembrokeshire (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 142-3, although the date may be later (Hore 1900-11, vol. 6, 142-3). It held many properties and benefices in Wexford and Carlow. It was suppressed in 1543. In 1560 the site was leased to Walter Pepard of Kilkea, Co. Kildare, at which time the remains included a cell, a church, a hall, two rooms, a chantry and a small yard (Grattan Flood 1905, 168-9). In 1605 the site was granted to the Earl of Thomond but by mid-century it was owned by Sir Walsingham Cooke (ibid. 170).
One wall (L 12.7m; T 0.8m; max. surviving H 3.3m) with no distinguishing features remains. Archaeological testing (99E0170) just S of this uncovered a pit (dims. 1.4m x 1.1m) containing four sherds of 12th/13th century pottery (Ó Drisceoil 2000), but further work (08E0033) failed to produce any material (Ó Drisceoil 2011). Lady's Well or Tobermurry, a rectangular well (dims. 2.5m x 3m) with concrete surrounds, lies c. 150m to SW.

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Wexford' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1996). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Compiled by: Michael Moore

Date of upload/revision: 21 May, 2012

References

Hore, P.H. 1900-1911 (Reprint 1979) History of the town and county of Wexford, 6 vols. Dublin. Published by arrangement with W.A. Hennessy Esq.

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

Flood, W.H. Grattan 1905 Glascarrig Priory, Co. Wexford. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 35, 164-70.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2000 Glascarrig North. Adjacent to monastery. in I. Bennett (ed.) Excavations 1999: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 372, No. 880. Wordwell. Bray.

Ó Drisceoil, C. 2011 Glascarrig. No arhcaeological significance. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 2008. Summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 373, No. 1279. Wordwell. Dublin.