RAHAN MONASTIC SITE - Offaly County Council

2.0 UNDERSTANDING THE PLACEIn his 1845 Practical Geology and Ancient Architecture of Ireland, George Wilkinson notes that limestone is thepredominant building stone found in Kings County (Offaly) with productive quarries in the vicinity of Tullamore.He also records brick making at Rahan which is supported by the cartographic evidence. The 1 st edition 6” map(1838) depicts the Brick Fields to the north-west and south-east of the monastic site. He also comments thatthe lime produced in the county is generally of high quality and that the local sands and gravels available fromthe ridges and eskers are particularly good. All of which attests to the availability of good building materials formasonry structures in the immediate vicinity of Rahan.Figure 19. Ordnance Survey Map 6-inch map (1838) showing brickfields in top left hand corner and Rahan monastery inbottom right hand corner.By 1845, the church was described as being able to provide seats for 120 people and had an attendance of betweenfifteen and fifty people for service. 22On the 30 th October 1880, the ruins of two churches 23 at Rahan were vested in the Office of Public Works by theChurch Temporalities Commission.The 1885 Ordnance Survey map shows a similar church layout as on the 1838 OS map. The millraces are no longerdepicted along the River Clodiagh. Rahan Jesuit College to the north is shown annotated as St Stanislaus College.A post office is depicted to the northwest of the monastic site.A good early photograph by the Earl of Dunraven published in 1877, shows the Romanesque doorway of the smallchurch with extensive ivy growth and most of the front quoins missing.The 1910 Ordnance Survey map shows the rectangular plan of Rahan Church, with a small side-chapel (flankingporticus) to the north and south of the chancel.Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Church of St Carthage has been studied and examined bysome of Ireland’s most distinguished antiquarian scholars with the function and form of the church being discussed,and speculation regarding the dates and origins of the features of the church have been put forward.Plate 9. Photograph of westdoorway in small church (Earl ofDunraven 1877).Figure 20. 19th century drawingof west doorway in small church(Petrie 1845).Plate 10. Photographof communion railand timber panellingof chancel arch(Henry 1940).Figure 21. 19th centurydrawing of base from westdoorway in small church (Earlof Dunraven 1845).31