Kilcooley Abbey, County Tipperary

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One of Ireland’s true hidden gems, Kilcooley Abbey is a simply wonderful place to visit. It is located in the beautiful Sliabh-Ardagh region of Tipperary, and is located within the walls of the Kilcooley Estate, an impressive Georgian house with over a thousand acres of land (now available for the bargain price of €2.1m!). 

Kilcooley Abbey was founded in 1182 after a grant of land to the Cistercians by Donal Mor O'Briain, King of Munster. It was the ‘daughter house’ of Jerpoint Abbey in County Kilkenny, and Kilcooley is without a doubt one of Ireland’s finest Cistercian abbeys and is a wonderful example of Gothic architecture. 

The Cistercian Order was founded by St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Burgundy, Central France in 1098. St. Bernard believed that the other monastic orders had become dissolute and undisciplined, and he founded the Cistercians as an austere and hard-working order who focused on a life of prayer. The Cistercians were initially extremely successful in Ireland, and spread rapidly from their first foundation at Mellifont in County Louth.

I haven’t been able to find much on the next couple of centuries of Kilcooley’s history, but the Abbey is recorded as being attacked and burned in 1418 and later again it was recorded as being almost completely levelled by an armed force of men in 1444. After this attack, the Ormond Butlers instigated a programme of reconstruction which removed the nave aisles and added a new north transept and tower. Most of the stunning sculpture around the Abbey dates to this period of reconstruction and renovation under the patronage of the powerful Ormond Butlers. The works were carried out under the eye of the Abbot, Philip O’Mulwanayn, and his graveslab dating to 1463 shows him holding his bishop’s crozier and book of prayer. He appears to have been part of a dynasty, as his son William, and his ancestors after him, were abbots of Kilcooley until the mid sixteenth century.

The Butlers were rewarded for their patronage, by having their tombs placed inside the sacred areas of Kilcooley. The most stunning of which is the incredible tomb of Pierce Fitz Oge Butler. The tomb likely dates to 1526, and depicts Pierce Butler in his armour. At his feet a small dog indicates his faithfulness and loyalty, and ten of the twelve apostles are depicted below (from left to right) Saint Peter holding the keys to Heaven, Saint Andrew, Saint James (major), Saint John, Saint Thomas, Saint James (minor), Saint Philip, Saint Bartholomew, Saint Simon and Saint Matthew. Unusually, we know who actually created the tomb, as the name of the sculptor Rory O’Tunney (Roricus O Tuyne) is clearly marked.

The Sedilla

The wonderful screen wall

The beautiful eastern window

Medieval tomb effigys, with that of Abbot Phillip O’Mulwanayn highlighted

It is almost impossible to do justice in this short blog article to the sheer wealth of incredible sculpture at Kilcooley, for example the beautifully ornate Gothic east window is so delicately carved, with the stone formed to look almost like flames or delicate foliage.  The ‘abbots chair’ (or sedilla) is also incredible, and is matched on the other side by another, slightly plainer example perhaps for a prior. As far as I am aware I believe them to be the only examples in Irish Cistercian monasteries.

The screen wall separating the southern transept from the sacristy is also elaborately decorated with a number of scenes including Saint Christopher crossing a river with the infant Jesus, the crucifixion with Mary and Saint John on either side, a pelican feeding its young within a chalice, a charming mermaid with a comb and mirror, and the Butler coat-of-arms.

The cloister area

Beyond this area you can enter the cloister. The cloisters was an important feature of Cistercian monasteries, and were always located to the south. They were usually a covered walkway enclosing an open square area. Very little remains of any covered walkway at Kilcooley, and it appears that perhaps the cloisters were converted to a courtyard in its later history. You can see other more domestic quarters at Kilcooley though some of these are kept locked and inaccessible to the public for health and safety reasons. Outside of the abbey you can see a small circular tower, this was a dovecote where the monks kept pigeons. The pigeons were a handy source of protein and the pigeon dung also made good fertilizer, very little was wasted in a medieval monastery! In its heyday, the Abbey would have also had other agricultural buildings like mills and a large lay population to work the land.

Stairway to domestic quarters

Kilcooley Abbey ceased to be a place of monks and contemplation when it was surrendered during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1540. However the lands were granted directly to the Butlers, and it is recorded that they allowed monks to remain at Kilcooley, until they sold it to Sir Jerome Alexander in 1636. After the Catholic Confederacy rebellion in 1641, Cistercian monks returned to Kilcooley, until they were finally removed from the site by Cromwell’s forces in 1650. Ten years later the Alexander family regained the Abbey and when Elizabeth Alexander married Sir William Barker of Essex in 1676, the Abbey was converted into being a domestic house.

In 1790 the grand Kilcooley House was built and replaced the abbey as the main residence. Today the site is a National Monument, and under the care of the Office of Public Works. The site is gated, but the gate is often left unlocked during the day to allow visitors to enjoy one of the finest heritage sites in the country.

Kilcooley is located around 20km east of Thurles in County Tipperary at co-ordinates 52.67206 -7.5644, off the R690. It’s just east of Gortnahoe. When you go up the drive of Kilcooley Estate you’ll see signs for the Abbey, but before you get there be sure to park your car at the relatively modern Church of Ireland and take a moment to see the quite remarkable 18/19th century pyramid shaped burial monument of the Barker family. It’s well worth a look! The abbey is just further along the track, less than a five minute walk from there.

The dovecote

I have to thank Maura Wall-Barrett for suggesting to visit Kilcooley, it really is a spectacular site and one that I will certainly be visiting again in the near future. The fantastic Historic Graves group have also visited Kilcooley and have recorded the custodian of the Abbey eloquently describing the history and features of this remarkable place. You can find this here

If you have a suggestion for a site I’d love to hear it, please let us know by dropping us a line at info@abartaaudioguides.com or on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, where you can keep up with daily pictures and information about wonderful heritage sites in Ireland.

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The unusual pyramid monument of the Barker family

 

The impressive Kilcooley Estate, dates to the 18th Century and available for €2.1m

Tullaghoge, County Tyrone

 

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Tullaghoge in County Tyrone has to be one of the most atmospheric and evocative sites that we have visited for this blog. At first glance the site looks very much like a large ringfort – a common type of settlement site in the early medieval period. It has a large earthen banks topped by a ring of trees, however the ditches are far too wide to be defensive and the commanding views over the landscape of Tyrone suggest that this was a place of important ceremonies and authority.

The name Tullaghoge comes from Tulach Óg meaning The Hill of Youth. The site has never been archaeologically excavated so the exact age and function of the initial activity at Tullaghoge is unknown. It is likely to date to some time in the early medieval period, between the seventh and ninth centuries. Historical records tell us that the site was originally associated with Uí Tuirtre of Airgialla, and then became the possession of the O’Hagan family. They lived at Tullaghoge and became the hereditary guardians of the symbolic site. The O’Hagans were clients of the powerful O’Neill dynasty, and during the middle and later medieval period, it was the O’Hagans who had the honour of inaugurating the O’Neill chiefs, proclaiming them as ‘The O’Neill’. 

Image from IrishArchaeology.ie

During the crowning ceremony at Tullaghoge, the King elect was seated on a stone inauguration chair known as the Leac na Ri. He swore oaths to rule by Brehon Law (the ancient laws of Ireland) and to give up the throne if he became too old to rule. New sandals were placed on his feet by the chief of the O’Hagans and a golden sandal was ceremonially thrown over his head to indicate he would continue in the footsteps of his ancestors, and then the new king was handed the ceremonial rod of office. The primate of Armagh would then anoint and crown the O’Neill as chief and king. This image from around 1601, depicts the coronation ceremony at Tullaghoge (image sourced from this great blog article http://irisharchaeology.ie/2013/08/sacred-trees-in-early-ireland).

The last O’Neill to have been inaugurated at Tullaghoge was the famous Hugh O’Neill in 1595. Hugh was the powerful Earl of Tyrone, and he led a massive rebellion against the Crown forces in Ireland in an attempt to stop the plantations of Ireland and the erosion of the powers of the Gaelic chiefs. This series of conflicts became known as The Nine Years War. After some initial successes, like the Battle of the Yellow Ford, by 1601 the Gaelic Forces had suffered a heavy defeat at the Battle of Kinsale. Lord Mountjoy led the Crown Forces here, to the Royal Inauguration site of Tullaghoge, and smashed the Leac na Ri, the sacred inauguration stone of the O'Neill's, thereby symbolically breaking the O'Neill sovereignty. At the time it was recorded that Mountjoy 
‘spoiled the corn of all the country...and brake down the chair wherin the O’Neals were wont to be created, being of stone planted in the open field’. 
Fragments of the Leac na Ri were said to have been stored in the orchard of the glebe house of the local protestant church until 1776, when the last of the fragments were taken away.

The O'Neill's never returned to Tullaghoge to claim their lordship as Hugh O'Neill fled Ireland in the Flight of the Earls in 1607. Eventually though the O’Neill’s would return to power albeit in a more indirect way, Hugh O’Neill’s daughter Sorcha married a Magennis who was the ancestor of Lady Glamis. In 1900 Lady Glamis had a daughter, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, her daughter Elizabeth currently sits on the British throne.

 
The site was said to have been completely abandoned by 1622 and today it is an incredibly atmospheric place to visit. When you enter the centre of the enclosure and are shut off from the modern world by the trees and earthen banks, you can really get a sense of the history of Tullaghoge, a place of celebrations, ceremonies, inaugurations and gatherings for centuries.

Tullaghoge is just around 4km south of Cookstown in County Tyrone, off the B162 (Cookstown to Stewartstown Road), and you’ll see signposts for the site. There is a small area to park at the base of the hill, and a well made stone path leads nearly the whole way to the site. At the end of the path just pass through the small kissing gate. 

If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from www.abartaaudioguides.com. There are currently fourteen guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places. They are as enjoyable at the site as they are from the comfort of your favourite armchair at home, so why not try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin to hear the story of the birth of a city? Or try our FREE guide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath or the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois. Follow the links for a free preview or to access your guide.

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Carrowkeel, County Sligo

"I lit three candles and stood awhile, to let my eyes accustom themselves to the dim light. There was everything, just as the last Bronze Age man (sic) had left it, three to four thousand years before. A light brownish dust covered all... There beads of stone, bone implements made from Red Deer antlers, and many fragments of much decayed pottery. On little raised recesses in the wall were flat stones, on which reposed the calcinated bones of young children."

These are the words of R.S. Macalister who in 1911 was the first person in thousands of years to enter the Neolithic tombs of Carrowkeel. Unfortunately Macalister and his team did great damage to these wonderful monuments, using dynamite and sledgehammers to enter the tombs rather than a careful excavation.

Each of the peaks of this northern end of the Bricklieve Mountains features passage tombs

Despite this violation, Carrowkeel still remains one of the most spectacular and breathtaking archaeological landscapes in Ireland, and is simply a must-see for anyone with any interest in our prehistoric past. They are situated at the northern end of the Bricklieve Mountains in County Sligo, and cover a number of the peaks that tower over the surrounding landscape. As well as a large number of tombs, at Mullagh Farna, archaeologist Dr Stefan Bergh with Anthony Corns and Robert Shaw of the Irish archaeological research unit The Discovery Programme carried out a high resolution survey of the area using digital photogrammetry and identified 153 hut sites and enclosures that probably indicate the homes of the people who constructed the tombs, a Neolithic village in the shadow of the mountains. If you'd like more information on this site visit the NUI Galway website here.

View from Cairn G with H & K in the background

We visited three of the passage tombs on the 2nd September 2013 and it was a fantastic experience! The tombs first appear as stone cairns, and are constructed from the abundant local carboniferous limestone. They are passage tombs, and were built around 5,000 years ago in the Neolithic period. This was the time of the first farmers in Ireland, the people who began to cut back the dense forests that covered the country to create fields for tillage and pasture. The most famous passage tomb cemetery in Ireland is the Brú na Bóinne (Bend of the Boyne) including the iconic sites of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth, but Carrowkeel is equally as important, with its fourteen tombs.

When the tombs were ‘investigated’ by Macalister and his team, each of the tombs were assigned a letter. We visited the easiest to access tombs, Cairns G, H and K. Each of the tombs was accessible, though please do take every precaution not to disturb or damage the tombs if you wish to enter.

View out through the lightbox above the entrance of Cairn G

 Cairn G in particular was notable as it has a lightbox above the entrance, similar to that of Newgrange, only Cairn G is aligned with the sunset of the summer solstice. Cairn G is believed to predate Newgrange by more than 700 years, and is more simple with a much smaller passageway leading to the burial chamber. Inside Cairn G, Macalister reported finding deposits of cremated human bone, beads from a necklace and sherds of pottery. I didn’t access the next tomb, Cairn H, as it looked far too tight a squeeze. It appeared to be a narrow undifferentiated passage (meaning it did not open into a burial chamber at the end). The third tomb we visited, Cairn K, was a little easier to enter. A narrow cruciform shaped passageway led to a burial chamber. Inside this Macalister found deposits of cremated human remains under the flagged floor of the recesses in the chamber, and stone beads and pottery. They also discovered a Bronze Age urn, showing that these sites still held power and significance thousands of years after their first construction. 

View along the passageway of Cairn K looking towards the entrance

Carrowkeel has much in common with Seefin in County Wicklow. Both are large stone cairn-type passage tombs that are positioned high above the surrounding landscape with incredible views. Perhaps those who constructed the graves so high above the landscape, wanted to claim ownership of all they could see. That by placing their ancestors far above the low lying lands of the living, the shades of their forebears could watch over them from their tombs.  

Cairn K with its entrance facing out towards the North

You’ll find Carrowkeel around 30km or so from Sligo Town. Aim for Castlebaldwin on the N4 road between Sligo and Boyle, and the tombs are well signposted from there. The road winds considerably upwards, take the well formed tarmac road down to the site. At the end of this road you’ll find a closed gate, simply open the gate (being sure to close and tie it again behind you) and drive up the hill. 

You’ll come to a small area you can leave your car where you will see there is a sign indicating you shouldn’t drive any further. Follow the advice of the sign and park up, walking along the track for around 1 – 2km. You’ll see Cairn G above you to the right, so leave the stony path and follow the rough track upwards through the bog towards it. Do mind your footing as the ground can be treacherous on a bad day. The weather day we visited was mixed but largely dry, even so the wind was really strong when we reached the top, so do take care and wear appropriate footwear.

The burial chamber of Cairn K

If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from www.abartaaudioguides.com. There are currently fourteen guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places. They are as enjoyable at the site as they are from the comfort of your favourite armchair at home, so why not try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin to hear the story of the birth of a city? Or try our FREE guide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath or the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois. Follow the links for a free preview or to access your guide.

The views over the landscape of County Sligo are just spectacular!

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At Carrowkeel you can really see how the glacier carved out the landscape over 10,000 years ago

Clonca Church, County Donegal

At Clonca in the far north of the Inishowen Peninsula in County Donegal you can find a small 17th Century church. The church itself is rather plain, but it stands on the foundations of an earlier church that was part of an early-medieval monastic site founded by Saint Buodan. You can still see traces of this earlier monastery in the large lintel that has been reused in the church, and the remarkable two high crosses. 

Only one of the high crosses still stands today, it is around 4m tall and probably dates to around the 11–12th century. However around three-quarters of the cross head appears to have been replaced. Like most high crosses this example at Clonca displays biblical scenes like a depiction of the two apostles Peter and Paul, above them you can see strange looking beasts (maybe lions?), on the other side of the cross you can see the
miracle of the loaves and fishes but much of the cross is taken up with intricate geometric patterns. The second cross is a little more difficult to find as it has long since collapsed, to find it walk through the field from the standing cross, walking near the fence back towards the road, keeping the hedge  boundary of the field with the church in it on your right hand side. You’ll soon find the large fragments of the high cross lying on the ground. It looks to have been a large ringed cross, decorated with curving shapes.




 

Back inside the church, you can see the rather ornately decorated fifteenth or sixteenth century graveslab. It has a large cross in the centre and to the right you can see a depiction of a sword and a hurley stick and sliotar. The slab is inscribed with ‘Fergus Mak Allan Do Rini in Clach Sa Magnus Mec Orristin Ia Fo Trl Seo‘  (Fergus MacAllan made this stone; Magnus Mac Orristin under this). 

Clonca Church is certainly worth a visit, just for an excuse to drive around the beautiful Inishowen Peninsula! It is relatively straight forward to find, from Carndonagh take the R244 east for roughly 5km heading for Gorey. When you’re in Gorey take a left turn at the crossroads, drive through the next set of crossroads and you’ll see a sign pointing in a field just after the crossroads. There is space to pull the car in just before the site, and there is a solid path leading to the church from the road.

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If you would like to see daily updates with pictures and information on Irish heritage sites, archaeology and history please consider following Abarta Audioguides on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter. You can now also follow us on Instagram, just search for Abarta Audioguides.

If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from www.abartaaudioguides.com. There are currently fourteen guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places. They are as enjoyable at the site as they are from the comfort of your favourite armchair at home, so why not try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin to hear the story of the birth of a city? Or try our FREE guide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath or the Rock of Dunamase in County Laois. Follow the links for a free preview or to access your guide.  

Boa Island, County Fermanagh

The smaller Lustymore Man (left) and the larger two-sided Janus (right)

Two of the most enigmatic pieces of Irish sculpture can be found in a small cemetery on Boa Island in County Fermanagh. The larger sculpture is a two-sided ‘Janus’ figure, with depictions of a bearded figure on both sides. Both of the depictions show an oval-faced man with large almond shaped bulging eyes, and a straight nose. 

One side of the two-sided Janus

One side has the tongue partially sticking out, the other seems just to be an open mouth. The head just merges into the body without a clear neck, and the arms are crossed over what appears to be a belt. The base of the larger sculpture was found at a later time, and is now propped up against the figure. At the top of the heads there is a groove where people today leave coins as an offering. The smaller figure is called the ‘Lustymore Man’, and was found on the neighbouring Lustymore Island. It appears to be more weathered and more plainly carved. This figure is only one sided, but has a lot of similarities with the larger figure. It seems to also depict a man with a straight nose and open mouth and its arms are crossed.

So who made these sculptures? Who do they depict and when where they carved? Unfortunately there really isn’t very much information at all about the Boa Island figures. They are both generally thought to date to some time in the Iron Age, as they have some similarities with other Iron Age sculpture from Ulster like the Tandragee Man (see here for a picture), though this is uncertain. 

The second side of Janus

The small cemetery they reside in is a very atmospheric place, apart from a few old gravestones that largely date to the eighteenth and nineteenth century, there is nothing else here, no church or visible monument. You walk along a small grassy path and enter this leafy glade to be confronted by these two idols. It almost feels like something from a Mayan site from the jungles of Central America, rather than a small, narrow island in County Fermanagh. Definitely worth a trip if you’re in the area!

Boa Island is on Lough Erne in County Fermanagh, roughly around 25km north-west of Enniskillen on the A47. The island is long and narrow with bridges that lead on and off it, so it is fully accessible by car, no ferries are required. The figures are in Caldragh Graveyard in the south-west of the island, the graveyard is well signposted and there is a small area to park.

The path to Caldragh Graveyard

The Lustymore Man

I hope you enjoy our blog posts. One of our posts has made the longlist for the prestigious Best Blog Post award in the Blog Awards Ireland. If you could take a second to visit http://www.blogawardsireland.com/category/best-blog-post-2/ and vote for Time Travel Ireland - Rindoon Deserted Medieval Town, County Roscommon I’d be really grateful! There's no registration or anything necessary, it is simply two clicks and you're done.If you would like to see daily updates with pictures and information on Irish heritage sites, archaeology and history please consider following Abarta Audioguides on Facebook, Google+ or Twitter.
If you would like to support us please download an audioguide from www.abartaaudioguides.com. There are currently fourteen guides available with four free of charge and the rest costing just €1.99. They are full of original music and sound effects and are a fun and immersive way of hearing the story of some of Ireland’s most iconic heritage sites and places. They are as enjoyable at the site as they are from the comfort of your favourite armchair at home, why not try our guide to Viking and Medieval Dublin to hear the story of the birth of a city? Or try our FREE guide to the wonderful heritage town of Kells in County Meath.