Mayo Gems: Pencil in visit to Burriscarra Friary - historical 13th century site

WITH the Covid-19 restrictions continuing and the opportunity for national or overseas holidays well into the future, Tom Gillespie is focusing on some well-known and less well-known locations in Mayo in his 'Mayo Gems' series, where, hopefully, readers can visit post coronavirus. This week he visits Burriscarra Friary.

The remains of Burriscarra Augustinian Friary, west of Carnacon, on the northeast shores of Lough Carra, are well worth a visit when the coronavirus crisis had abated.

They are amongst the most extensive of the Augustinian order in Ireland, which gives them an important place in the architectural heritage of Irish mendicant friaries, dominated by the Franciscan order. They are near another medieval building, the 14th-century parish church of Buriscarra.

In the friary church can be observed typical features found in mendicant churches: sedilia, where the clergy sat during Mass, and a piscina, used for washing sacramental vessels. The sedilia features a hood moulding with carved heads at each end. They are unfortunately quite damaged, but might have represented patrons of the friars, perhaps involved in the construction of the church.

The survival of part of the domestic buildings, a rare occurrence in an Augustinian context, give the visitor an insight into the friars’ everyday life; where they worked, ate and slept.

The friary was originally founded in 1298 for the Carmelites by Adam de Staunton (d. 1300). By the early 15th century, the friary had lain abandoned by the Carmelite friars for over 30 years.

In 1413, the deserted friary was handed over to the Augustinian friars of nearby Ballinrobe at the instance of Edmund and Richard Staunton. They were descendants of the original founder of the friary, Adam de Stauton, and had received permission for that transfer of the friary from Maurice O’Kelly (Muircheartach mac Pilib Ó Ceallaigh) (d.1407), Archbishop of Tuam.

The remains are quite extensive, and consist of the church, the sacristy, the east range, and part of the west range of domestic buildings where the friars lived and worked.

The transfer of the Carmelite friary to the Augustinian friars was finalised by Papal decree from Pope Gregory XII (d. 1415). Edmund and Richard Staunton are named as having prompted a group of Augustinian friars, led by a friar named Mattew Omaan, to inhabit the friary.

The decree specifies that they did so with the consent of both Maurice, Archbishop of Tuam, and Henry, rector of the parish church of St. Mary and the Holy Cross, which is probably the medieval church located just a couple of hundred metres from the friary. However, the transfer did not take place without a hitch; in 1438 Gerardo da Rimini, the order’s Prior General, ordered William Wells, the English Provincial, to investigate and be the judge on a dispute between the Carmelites and the Augustinian friars about the occupation of this friary. He appears to have decided in favour of his fellow Augustinians, and they remained in possession of the friary until its suppression.

In 1962 the Office of Public Works carried out a conservation project on the friary.