Clare Abbey: An Augustinian Monastery in County Clare
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Irish
- Site type
- Religious
- Remains
- Monastery
On this page10 sections
History
Clare Abbey is a ruined Augustinian monastery in Ireland, near Ennis in County Clare, founded in 1189 under the sponsorship of Domnall Mór Ua Briain, king of Thomond. Dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul at Kilmony, it was granted to Augustinian Canons, priests who followed the rule of Saint Augustine and served local communities through parish ministry and pastoral care. The monastery became the largest and most important Augustinian house in County Clare.
Early foundation and medieval conflict
The earlier name Kimony, meaning “the church on the bog,” appears in early medieval records and may indicate that the monastery occupied the site of an earlier church. Its position on land vulnerable to flooding may likewise have reflected the religious importance of an earlier sacred place.
In 1278, Clare Abbey became the scene of a legendary episode in the civil war between Toirdhealbhach Mór Ó Briain and Thomas de Clare. Donallbeg O’Brien ambushed Mahon O’Brien and his followers, who had been temporarily billeted at the abbey while retreating. Prisoners, followers, and cattle were subsequently massacred in the nearby bog. The event was known as “the rout of the Abbey on Mahon O’Brien” and became a proverb among the clan of Torlagh.
Decline and dissolution
During the thirteenth century, the O’Briens and Macnamaras, the leading Gaelic clans of County Clare, moved their family burial places to Ennis Friary and Quin Abbey. Local chieftains then largely withdrew their support from the Augustinian monasteries, and the buildings at Clare Abbey fell into disrepair.
In 1543, during the dissolution of the monasteries, Henry VIII’s government suppressed the abbey and transferred its lands to the Barons of Ibrackan. The surrounding property later formed the civil parish of Clareabbey. The Canons appear to have remained at the monastery until about 1650.
Antiquarian attention and protection
Thomas Johnson Westropp examined Clare Abbey in 1886 and described it in 1900. Loose stones in the buildings were reset and repaired in 1898 and 1899. The ruins are now protected as a National Monument of Ireland, reference number 197.
Remains
Clare Abbey stands on the west bank of the Fergus River, about a mile north of Clarecastle and near Ennis. The monastery occupies a strip of ground extending into the river’s flood plain, surrounded by marshy land liable to flooding. Its surviving buildings comprise a church with a belfry and domestic ranges to the south and east, arranged around a cloister. The complex is unusual among Augustinian monasteries because it has no west range.
Church and belfry
Single-aisled church
The church is a single-aisled building with a long nave and chancel. It dates from the late twelfth century and originally measured about 39 metres in length and between 9.4 and 9.5 metres in width. The belfry later divided the church internally. The west window had collapsed by 1680, while the east window remained well preserved during the late nineteenth-century examination.
Belfry tower
The belfry forms part of the church and retains its masonry, although its condition and design raised concerns in the nineteenth century. When Westropp examined it in 1886, the tower had no staircase. Its battlements were low and were described as badly proportioned. A large uninscribed tomb occupied the north recess beneath the tower at that time, and the oldest legible tombs visible there dated from the seventeenth century.
Domestic buildings and cloister
The domestic buildings were constructed in the fifteenth century and stand south and east of the church around the cloister area. Three fifteenth-century traceried windows survive. Traceried windows contain decorative stone patterns that divide their openings. The domestic ranges, cloister masonry, and associated walls form part of the surviving monastic ruins and were described as well preserved during the late nineteenth-century examination.
Earlier and carved stone remains
A granite block with a possible bullaun, a basin-like hollow carved into stone, may belong to an earlier structure on the site. A stone carving above one of the abbey windows may also preserve evidence of an earlier phase. An incised post-Norman cross, dating to the period after the Norman arrival in Ireland, was likewise recorded among the remains.
Nearby sites
