durrow abbey co. offaly conservation plan - Offaly County Council

wall and stream and on the south, southeast and
southwest sides by a very low bank and stream. A
holy well dedicated to St. Columcille is located in
the centre of the island. The small spring, which is
accessed by stone steps, is covered by a barrel vault
of small boulders. Despite its relatively modern
appearance it is possible that the well was a place
of devotion from the early medieval period. The
well is venerated every year on the pattern day,
June ninth. The first record of the pattern was in
1463, when an archery contest took place between
the O’Catharnachs of Durrow and the McGeoghegans
of Westmeath 12 .
motte) of Durrow in 1186, was murdered by
the foster son of Ó Catharnaigh of Munterhagen:
Hugo de Lacy….after having finished the castle
of Durrow, set out, accompanied by three
Englishmen to view it. One of the men on
Teffia, a youth name Gilla-gan-inathar O’Meyey,
approached him, and drawing out an axe, which
he had kept concealed, he, with one blow of it,
severed his head from his body; and both head
and trunk fell into the ditch of the castle. This
was in revenge of Columbkille 16 .
Subsequent annalistic entries refer to the completion
or re-building of the castle at Durrow by the
English about 1213:
The English army came from thence to Delvin
McCoghlan, and soe to Clonvicknose where
they built a castle, also they finished and amade
the castles of Dorow (Durrow), Byrr (Birr), and
Kinnety (Kinnity) of that voyage 17 .
St Columcille’s Well
Augustinian Priory and Nunnery
In the mid to late twelfth century effor ts were
made to reform the Irish church. The reform movement
in Ireland was spearheaded by St. Malachy of
Armagh whose strategy included the introduction
of new religious orders, most noticeably the Augustinians,
into pre-existing monastic communities 13 .
At St. Malacahy’s instigation, Murchad O’Melaghlin,
king of Mide, founded Augustinian houses of regular
canons and nuns at Durrow about 1144 14 . Murchad
was buried at the site in 1153. Following
his death the Augustinian’s were subjected to a
number of attacks recorded in the annals and the
adjacent country was laid waste by the Anglo-Normans
in 1175. There is no trace of either the nunnery
or priory above ground at the site 15 , nor are
the exact locations of these buildings known.
Anglo-Norman Occupation
An Anglo-Norman manorial centre was established
at Durrow to control the pre-existing monastic settlement.
Hugh de Lacy erected a large ear then
motte at the site in the late twelfth century.
There is no surviving evidence for a bretesche
or wooden tower on the summit of the motte.
The annals record that Hugh de Lacy, while
reviewing his completed castle (which was the
The castle at Durrow is recorded as being in a much
ruined state by the sixteenth century and it is possible
that a new structure was built at this time 18 .
Dissolution of the Monastery
Following the dissolution of the monastery in the
1540s it was immediately re-granted to the prior,
a member of the local O’Molloy sept on a 21-year
lease. The land was subsequently leased to Nicholas
Herber t (Harbar te) 19 at a rent of £10 per annum
payable to the Crown and military service when
required 20 . An inquisition of 1569 records the continued
presence of a prior at Durrow and it contained
‘the site of the abbey, being half an acre, on
which was a church, hall, and other buildings, annual
value, besides reprises, 40s.; that in the said town
were seven messuages and for ty cottages’ 21 .
Its continued wealth is reflected in the foundations
ownership of over 1,000 acres of land valued at
over £18. Herber t was afforded a second lease
at Durrow in 1574 on condition that he built two
stone for tresses on the site within four years 22 .