Ballybeg Abbey

In flat pasture, c. 200m S of Awbeg River. This Augustinian Priory was founded by Philip de Barry in 1229 and dedicated to St Thomas Becket (Gwynn and Hadcock 1988, 159). It was dissolved in 1541, and possibly re-established for a time (ibid., 153). It was in ruins by 1750 (Smith 1750, vol.1, 316), and the centre and W end of the church were subsequently occupied by a farmhouse and out offices until the early 20th century (Grove White 1905-25 vol. 1, 121). The remains consist in a complex of ruined 13th-century monastic buildings comprising a church with a cloister on the S side (the W end of church is in line with the mid-point of the cloister) and claustral ranges to the S, W and E (see plan in Shine 1993, 108). The priory was renovated in the late-medieval period, when a 4-storey rectangular tower was built against the N end of the W claustral range and a tower was inserted into the W end of the church. A late-medieval rectangular tower (CO017-059002-), c. 70m to the N, and a columbarium (CO017-059003-), c. 25m to SE, are also part of the monastic complex.

The Church (int. 50.8m E-W; 8.25m N-S) is best preserved at the W and E ends. Between these all of the N wall is missing, and only fragments of the S wall stand, much of this recently rebuilt. The W end wall has a rebuilt ground-floor doorway, near the N end; the rear-arch of the embrasure is built of well-cut sandstone blocks, some with diagonal tooling. Overhead and in the centre of the wall is a pair of windows: The N light has a rounded arch, the S light is bluntly pointed; though both lights are separated by walling externally, inside the embrasures meet at a point where there is 'a banded shaft which bears a capital of foliage with three small human faces' (Leask 1960, vol. 2, 146. Leask (ibid.) dates these windows to the late 13th century. O’Keeffe (1999, 138) states that the church was originally longer and was shortened, as also occurred in the Augustinian priory in Newtown Trim. High on the W end of the S wall is a wide window embrasure with a segmental rear arch, the light missing. Doorway and windows are partially obscured by the insertion of a belfry tower within the W end of the church. The tower consists of four masonry piers raised to eaves level, supporting a wicker-centred groin vault. The SW pier contains spiral stairs which give access to the area over the vault. Two carved animal heads on the underside of the vault have wide circular mouths which functioned as rope-holes. There is a carved human head at the springing of the vault on both western piers. The area over the vault is much ruined; at the E end the lower courses of a square structure (L c. 2m) survive, which may be the remains of a bellcote as it is positioned directly above the rope-holes. The S wall of the church has two doorways giving entry to the N cloister walk: a blocked doorway, partially obscured by the SE pier of the belfry tower, and a second door 1.6m to the E. The latter has a pointed-arch door surround, facing into the cloister, which is late-medieval in appearance, but the doorway itself may be original. A further 5.2m to the E of the latter is the W ingoing of an ope, possibly a similar doorway but the only surviving feature is a chamfered jamb-stone on the inside edge of the base. The SE corner of the church stands to near full height, preserving the S ingoing of the E window and the E ingoing of the window in the S wall; the latter retains part of the banded shaft. A series of three semi-circular recesses in the inner face of the S wall 3.4m W of the SE corner may be the remains of a sedilia. A stone-built burial chest is immediately W of the latter, on the inside of the wall face. There is a pair of similar burial chests opposite in the N wall (see plan in Shine ibid.).

The E half of the N side of the cloister is formed by the S wall of the church, while the W half of the wall is extensively rebuilt, linking the S wall of the church to the N wall of the W claustral range. Corbels and roof flashing on the exterior face of the S wall of the church indicate the line of the lean-to roof over the cloister walk. The W wall of the cloister survives though not to its original height; The S wall is missing. Doorways in the E and W walls of the cloister formerly gave access to the claustral buildings, of which few traces remain though the outline of the W and S ranges is discernible. Centrally placed on the E side is the base of an elaborate doorway (Wth 2m) facing into the cloister, identified by Leask (1958, 146) as the entrance to the chapter house; each side consists of the base of three rounded engaged pillars, in line; the inside jamb has round filleted moulding at either edge. To the N and S of the doorway, and 3.35m from it, a vertical scar on the outside face of the wall probably marks the side walls of the chapter house; there are no remains of the claustral range on this side. A vaulted passage (L c. 8m) extends S from the SE corner of the cloister walkway. Broken masonry protruding to the W from the N end of the passage indicates the line of the S wall of the cloister. A low wall runs W from the S end of the passage; It is probably the base of the S wall of the refectory; a short flight of mural stairs may have led to a pulpitum. The masonry block with a stone shelf at the SW corner of the cloister was identified by Leask (ibid., 146) as the remains of the laver; this stone was set in its present position by the OPW.

Outside the NW corner of the cloister, c. 18m W of the church is a late-medieval 4-storey rectangular tower. The tower is entered via a lintelled ground-floor doorway at the N end of the E wall; from a small vestibule (1m x 1m), mural stairs within the S wall lead to the 1st-floor, and a lintelled door leads W to a ground-floor chamber (3.9m N-S; 3m E-W). The latter is lit by double-splayed window embrasures in the N and W walls; corbels overhead indicate a wooden floor. The door at the top of mural stairs leads to a 1st-floor vaulted chamber, which is lit by slit windows in the N and W walls. From the 1st-floor level spiral stairs rise in the SE corner to the 3rd floor. A second-floor mural chamber in the E wall is accessed from spiral stairs; the main chamber (1.2m E-W; 3.1m N-S) is roofed by a vault (long axis N-S). There is a single chamber (4.6m E-W; 4.8m N-S) on the 3rd floor; the vaulted splayed window embrasure in the E wall has a single cusped ogee-headed light; a similar embrasure in the N wall has twin cusped ogee-headed light, the mullion missing; the N ingoing of an embrasure with window seat survives in the W wall. Traces of a spiral stairs rises from this chamber in the SE corner. Walls are collapsed above this level.

There is a rectangular tower (CO017-059002-; 9m E-W; 6.8m N-S) to the N of the church, and a circular columbarium (CO017-059003-; int. diam. 4.6m) to the SE. A fish-pond (CO017-057003-) in the grounds of a country house (CO017-057001-) c. 550m to the ENE is known locally as 'Monk's Pond', and may have been associated with the priory. Also probably associated with the site is the clapper bridge (CO017-057002-) over the river c. 450m to the NW, and the series of earthworks (CO017-059004-) in the field bounding the S side of the river immediately to the NE of the complex.

This is a National monument in State Guardianship (no 301).