archaeological & built heritage assessment - The Heritage Council

Throughout this time of castle building in Ireland, very often those sites located in strategic positions
adjacent to rivers also had associated bridges constructed. Those dating from the early medieval period
would have been built of wood and wicker materials and were regularly burnt during attacks. However as
the later medieval period progressed more permanent stone-built structures were designed. The majority
of bridges located within the study area originated as wooden structures and were later replaced by stone
bridges on or near the original location, such as those at Drumheriff, Leitrim, Jamestown and Cloonavery.
In total there are seven bridges recognised as recorded cultural heritage sites located within the study
area.
Within this period, towns, markets and fairs were established and change and reform attempted in the
Irish church. Medieval towns were often defended and delimited by the town walls and examples of such
remain at Jamestown dating to the 1600s. The Jamestown Court Collection (NMI 1995:1604-1611) gives a
good indication of late/post medieval artefacts that were utilised at this time. Extra defence was also
provided by batteries and military fortifications at this time. Although any military fortifications
constructed along the Shannon were mainly concentrated further south of the study area in areas such as
Lanesborough, Athlone and Shannonbridge, it is recorded that a fort existed at Carrick-on-Shannon by
1611. However it seems that it declined in importance with the establishment of Jamestown in 1622, even
though a second fort was built on the Roscommon side of the river by 1627. It is possible that the first
‘fort’ was built before the town at Carrick-on-Shannon was established and it may simply have housed
soldiers and was used to guard an important crossing place on the river Shannon. Very little remains of
the fort and as such it has been classified as a castle (Moore 2003). Boyle Abbey lost some of its monastic
appearance at this time when it became a military establishment called Boyle Castle in the period c. 1600-
1800 (O’Reilly 1997).
The Irish church has a long tradition of monasticism dating back to the sixth century however; a new
wave of monasticism was introduced in the twelfth century by the Cistercians, Augustinians, Benedictines
and Cluniacs. The Cistercians brought with them the claustral plan (central cloister or courtyard) (Stalley
1987), which was to remain the basis of all monastic building until the sixteenth century. One of the major
religious events in thirteenth century Ireland was the arrival of the Friars; these were mendicant orders,
vowed to poverty and committed to preaching to the general population. A second medieval wave of
monastic foundations is a feature of the fifteenth century, a period in which many existing monastic
complexes were extensively refurbished and extended. There are references to abbeys having been
established at both Church Island and Trinity Island in Lough Key. Boyle abbey forms an early strand in
the web of Cistercian expansion in Ireland. It was colonised from Mellifont in 1161 and patronised by the
MacDermots, Irish Lords of Moylurg in the northern part of Co. Roscommon. Friction between Irish and
French factions destructive of the peace of such Irish houses as Mellifont and Jerpoint extended also to
Boyle, resulting in attacks on the Abbey by the Anglo-Norman William de Burgo in 1202, delays in the
completion of the nave, and forced transfer of the allegiance of Boyle from Mellifont to the French
mother-house of Clairvaux. Boyle appears to have survived the suppression of the monasteries under
Henry VIII, partly because of its western position, and partly because it was only a monastery in name by
that time (O’Reilly 1997). There is also tradition of a nunnery having been established at Oakport
demesne.
Irish stone churches of pre-1100 date are small and have little structural sophistication. It is possible that
the majority of early medieval churches in Ireland of this date were constructed in wood, not stone, and
were principally simple post-built structures. When the Romanesque tradition infiltrated Ireland in the
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