Boyle Abbey

Founded in 1161 by Cistercian monks who had left Mellifont in 1148, but moved to a succession of locations before settling on Boyle (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 128-9). Its history is well recorded as the 'Annals of Lough Cé' (ALC) were compiled here throughout the Middle Ages. It was founded on lands provided by the MacDermots of Moylurg, and its daughter houses of Assaroe, Co. Donegal, and Abbeyknockmoy, Co. Galway, were founded in 1178 and 1189-90 respectively. The site was occupied by William Burke in 1202. The church was consecrated in 1218-20 and repaired after 1402. It is listed as de Buello in the ecclesiastical taxation of 1306 (CDI vol. 5, 225). The abbey was flooded in 1471, and at the suppression in 1569 it seems to have been intact. English troops are recorded in Boyle in 1566 but a garrision was established from 1585 when the abbey was fortified and altered with additional buildings. It was besieged by Irish forces in 1645. It is situated on the W bank of the SW-NE Boyle river, c. 3 km from the point where it enters Lough Key. (O'Conor, 2007, 194)

The remains consist of the church and fragments of the claustral buildings, which were altered in the 16th and 17th centuries. The chancel and transcepts survive intact as do the nave arcades, but the N aisle is completely destoyed and the S aisle is reduced to the foundations. Excavation during 2006 uncovered the foundations of the N wall of the N aisle together with burials within the aisle (Quinn 2009). The church was built in four phases between 1161 and 1220, and the crossing tower was added before the end of the 13th century. Only fragments of the chapter house and other buildings around the cloister survive. The cloister area was fortified in the later 16th century as a bawn (RO006-068009-) which survives intact with a gatehouse (RO006-068010-) on the W wall and a circular tower at its SW angle. This tower (int. diam. c. 2.5m) has walls (T c. 1.2m; H c. 4m) with 19th century work at the top (Barrow 1979, 177-8), but it is unlikely to be a round tower. Excavations around the gatehouse by A. Lynch revealed fragments of the original cloister. (Stalley 1987, 243; Kalkreuter 2001)

The nave (int. dims 40.2m E-W; 7.6m N-S) has eight pointed arches on the N side and eight rounded arches on the S, representing three building phases, and these walls survive almost complete with clearstoreys over. The S aisle is reduced to the foundations (int. Wth 2.6m) with the remains of two doorways to the cloister garth, and the N aisle was removed, probably in the late 16th century when the arches of the N aisle were filled in. The N wall is unstable and supported by buttresses outside. Excavation related to engineering works recovered some burials outside the N wall (Rooney 2007a). The W wall has a pointed doorway with a single lancet window overhead, and there is a spiral stairs to the S of the doorway leading to a now destroyed bellfry.

The chancel (int. dims 7.75m E-W; 7.5m N-S) has three lancet windows at the E end which may have been inserted over a double row of smaller windows indicated by the four loops of an external string-course. The chancel is vaulted, and there is a sedelia in the S wall. The N transept (int. dims 6.5m N-S; 7m E-W) has a pointed doorway with a round-headed window on either side in the N wall, and two chapels (int. dims 2.8m N-S; 2.7m E-W ) on the E side, entered through tall pointed arches, but each chapel has a round-headed E window. There are clearstorey lights in the N and E walls of the N transept. The S transept is a mirror image except that the doorway in the S wall leads to the night stairs. The crossing has rounded arches on all sides except the E which leads into the chancel. The inaccessible tower over the crossing was completed c. 1300.

There are a 13th century graveslab (RO006-068011-) representing a bishop as a hand holding a crozier (Hunt 1974, 216, No. 211) and a graveslab commemorating Ua Mailchanig (RO006-068013-) (Fitzgerald 1910-12a; MacAlister 1945, vo. 2, 17, No. 553) in the N transept. The graveslab of Matheus (RO006-068014-) (MacAlister 1945, vol. 2, 17, No. 554) and fragments of four others (RO006-068015- to RO006-068018-) are kept in the refrectory (Bradley and Dunne 1988, 49-51).

The cloister (dims 33.85m N-S; 23.2m E-W) and its garth (Wth 2.5-2.6m) survive in outline, but no arcading survives. It was fortified in the late 16th century when it was transformed into a bawn (RO006-068009-) (dims 49m N-S; 38.5m E-W) by the consolidation of the W wall of the E range, which originally housed the chapter house, and the building of new walls at the S and W. Fragments of two original doorways are embeded in the E wall, the outline of the refectory survives in the structure (int. dims 22.3m E-W; 7.4m N-S) at the SE angle of the bawn. The S gable of a house with its fireplace and ovens survives at the W end of the S wall, and there is a circular corner tower at the SW angle. Excavation inside the W wall of the original refectory at the SE angle recovered the remains of a post-medieval pottery kiln (RO006-068012-) overlying four piers associated with the post-medieval roofing of the building, (Rooney 2007a).

There is a restored 16th century gatehouse (RO006-068010-) (ext. dims 9.85m E-W; c. 5.2m N-S) of two stories and attic on the W wall. The entrance passage (Wth 2.6m) has chambers off it to the S and N, that on the N leading by a stairs to the first floor which has rectangular windows with square hood mouldings and a wooden floor. The red-tiled roof is a reproduction of the original, evidence of which was recovered in excavation. A N-S ditch, which was probably contemporary with the re-used gatehouse, was revealed in excavation c. 40m to the NW (Read 2006a). Excavation during 2008 uncovered the N wall of the church and burials, including one with an in situ grave-slab, (RO006-068019-) (Quinn 2011).

This is a National Monument in state ownership: No. 167