Wexford Ireland

Architecture

Dunbrody Abbey, Co. Wexford (Holiday Cottages, Wexford, Ireland), was founded about a.d. 1175 by Hervey de Monte Marisco marshal of Ireland and seneschal of Richard de Clare earl of Pembroke. The land was in the first instance granted to the abbot and monks of Build was in Shropshire and was colonised from thence, but in 1182 an agreement was come to by which the Abbey of Build was gave up all its rights over Dunbrody and ceded them to the abbot of St Marys Abbey, Dublin. The foundation charter of Dunbrody contained a clause giving the right of sanctuary ; the abbey being in consequence generally known as Monasterium de Portu S. Maria, the Monastery of St Mary of Refuge. Dunbrody became an important house, and its abbot was granted the right of wearing a mitre by the Pope in 1374 : he was also summoned to Parliament. At the dissolution of the monasteries Dun- brody was suppressed : it was surrendered by its last abbot Alexander Devereux who became bishop of Ferns in 1539. The remains of Dunbrody arc extensive. The church follows the usual Cistercian cruciform plan with an aisled nave ; three eastern chapels in the transepts ; and a square tower, a later addition, at the junction between the nave and choir. The nave has lancet windows and the aisles were separated from it by pointed arches. This portion of the building probably belongs to the thirteenth century. The cloisters and remains of the conventual buildings lie to the south.

Ferns (Fearna, a place abounding in alders), in Co. Wexford (Hotels, Wexford, Ireland) about 70 miles from Dublin is a small and unimportant town. The See was founded in the sixth century by St Maodhog to whom the cathedral is dedicated. The present cathedral, which was practi- cally rebuilt in 1817, is of little interest. It is a parallelogram in plan with a western lower and a small outbuilding to the west of the tower. At the. beginning of the nineteenth century a monument was discovered when some alterations were being made in the church. The monument represents a bishop and is considered to be the effigy of St Maodhog, though of much later date Ornamental Leather Satchel in which was carried the than the death of the saint. In this case it probably marks the place of his burial. The name of St Maodhog is associated with a shrine now in the National Museum, Dublin. The shrine is generally known as the Breac Maodoig, having been so named by St Molaise who gave it to St Maodhog. The shrine, which was formerly preserved in the church of St Maodhog at Drumlane, Co. Cavan, is in the shape of a small box, with a lid of double slope ; it is made of bronze, and ornamented on the front with figures of saints in relief; these are. of interest on account of their costumes. The back of the shrine was covered with a plate pierced with a cruciform pattern, a common form of ornamentation on Irish shrines. The leather case ornamented with interlaced patterns in which the shrine was formerly carried has been preserved; it is in the National Museum.

Posted on April 17th, 2008 under Architecture. Tags: alexander devereux, Architecture, breac madoig, dunbrody abbey, hervey de monte marisco, History, square tower, Wexford. RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback.