Twelve hidden treasures scattered across Mayo
By Tom Gillespie
IN 1968 I received a copy of the first edition of the Treasures of Britain and Treasures of Ireland, just published by Drive Publications Ltd., for the Automobile Association, Fanum House, Leicester Square, London.
The section on Ireland is headed ‘A unique and little-known land that has preserved the inheritance of over 3,000 years of civilisation’.
Of the hundreds of entries, there are several on Mayo, which I list hereunder, after the introduction, which reads:
The hard facts of Ireland’s history have made it dramatically different from the rest of the British Isles; accordingly Ireland is here given a separate section from England, Scotland and Wales.
The story is a long, sad one of oppression by foreigners, cruel religious conflict at home and ordeal by Famine; it is made bearable by the memory of a Golden Age where the Gaels, who made princesses out of poets, and carried the torch of Christianity through three dark centuries.
Monasteries, crosses, illuminated manuscripts and super examples of religious metalwork still survive as reminders of the romantic period between the 6th and 9th centuries when Irish missionaries spread learning and culture across Europe.
But the centuries that followed were so violent that an ancient church or monastery mentioned here must be presumed to be roofless unless otherwise stated.
Only in the middle of the 17th century was a condition of relative political stability assured, to permit the steady growth of urban civilisation. The towns, which often have a grandeur of lay-out which seems out of proportion to the size of their populations, are limned by a network of roads which again are unexpectedly large in scale.
After the Famine and the emigration of the 1840s, the population fell by two million, and today (1968) is only four and a quarter million.
One result of this is that the pace of life in Ireland seems easier than in Britain. When country houses and other occupied buildings are mentioned in this section, no implication is intended that they are all open to the public; but many people will still, in practice, prove ready to admit an interested visitor if asked courteously.
The ones of local interest are:
Ballintober: Augustinian friary founded by Cathal O’Connor in 1216. The church was originally cruciform and had no aisle, with a tower over the crossing. There are good Romanesque and early Gothic details on the windows and capitals. The choir is vaulted, and the transepts each have vaulted eastward chapels.
It continued to be used for Catholic worship throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, and in 1846 the great John MacHale, Archbishop of Tuam, began its restoration.
In 1889 George Ashlin reroofed the chancel, crossing and transept, and there has recently been further sensitive restoration.
The remains of a Jacobean tomb of the 1st Lord Mayo can be seen in the sacristy.
Burrishoole Abbey: A Dominican friary founded in 1469 on an inlet of the sea; the church with its tower and transept remains, as do some parts of the convent buildings.
Castlebar: Founded in the 17th century by the Binghams (later Earls of Lucan), Castlebar is famous as the site of the battle known as Castlebar Races (1798) between the French General Humbert and General Lake, the British commander, who was soundly defeated.
The gate-piers of the old Bingham House survive. The most notable buildings in the town are the fine cut-stone 18th century Linen Hall, with pedimented entrance, and opposite the courthouse, the Methodist church and manse, unusually combined under one roof.
Cong Abbey: The Augustinian friary, a royal foundation of the O’Connors, Kings of Connaught, dating from the early 13 century, but largely rebuilt.
It retains a number of beautiful doorways showing distinct French influence, which are older than the present church. The scanty, reset remains of the cloister indicate that it had, perhaps, the first use of the dumb-bell pier which became almost universal throughout Ireland.
Inchagoill: An island in Lough Corrib, about five miles south of Cong, on which the remains of an early mortar-built oratory and a 12th-century Romanesque church.
The doorway (rebuilt) is elaborately carved with human heads and other ornaments.
Inishmaine: An island in Lough Mask containing Augustinian Transitional church of the 12th century, with later transepts.
On the west shore of the island is a twin-crypted sweat-house (used for sweat baths), with a high-pitched stone roof.
Moore Hall: The ruined shell of classical Moore Hall stands on a peninsula in Lough Carra and is evocative of the scenes in George Moore’s novels and autobiographical writings.
John Moore, the builder of the house, was an active participants in the French associated Connaught Rising in 1798, as President of the ‘Republic of Connaught’, and later members of the family were also political active.
Moyne Abbey: The Franciscan friary on the shores of Killala Bay, begun c.1460 by Mac William Burke and fairly complete, though burnt by Sir Richard Bingham in 1590.
There is the usual slender central tower and a good cloister. The reader’s desk in the projecting window of the refectory is worthy of note, as are the 16th century graffiti on the plaster of the west nave wall. The west door has Renaissance detail.
Rockfleet: A typical 16th century tower-house on the shores of Clew Bay, chiefly interesting as being the only known residence of the celebrated Grainne Mhaille, or Grace O’Malley.
In 1574 she beat off an English seaborne attack against Carraige an Chabbaigh Castle; 19 years later she appeared before Elizabeth I and was granted a licence to attack the queen’s enemies.
Roserk Friary: A small, very well-preserved friary of the third order of Franciscans, founded in 1441.
The church lies south of the cloister and has a central tower and southern transept, with two chapels and as sacristy cupboard. The east window has cusped tracery like St. Nicholas’s, Galway.
Strade Abbey: Founded as a Franciscan friary by Jordan de Exeter, Strade was transferred to the Dominican order in 1252-3.
There are splendid figures on the high altar, a magnificent 15th- or 16th century tomb with superb flamboyant tracery and weepers on the plinth, and other sculptures representing Our Lord with the Five Wounds, a layman with an ear trumpet, two bishops and St. Peter.
Westport: Perhaps the most elaborately planned of smaller Irish towns, laid out in 1780.
The canalised river is the main feature of the plan, flanked by tree-lined quays and crossed by graceful bridges. Other streets ascend the slopes from an octagonal place containing a column.
Nearby is Westport House at the head of Clew Bay; it contains fine Wyatt plasterwork in the dining-room.