Carlingford Priory

This priory is thought to have been founded by Richard de Burgh c. 1305 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 222). Its remains consist of a nave and chancel divided by a tower with possible parts of the domestic range c. 20m to the S. The church is built of roughly coursed limestone blocks and greywacke. The chancel had the remains of a large E window, three windows in the N wall and one in the S. The E window has been almost completely destroyed and is partially blocked up. It has a two-centred pointed arch of moulded and chamfered sandstone on the outside, while the inner one is constructed with small limestone slabs and has a keystone. There is no evidence of tracery or any indication of the original number of lights in the window. The three windows in the N wall of the chancel are either completely or partially blocked up. The easternmost one has been altered and has now a flat arch, whereas the other two have two-centred arches of small greywacke slabs with keystones. None have remains of carved or moulded stone, though cut sandstone blocks have been used in the jambs of the embrasures. In the S wall there is only one window. It has a flat arch and is at the E end of the wall. There is a blocked doorway almost in the centre of the S wall of the chancel with an arch of small greywacke slabs and keystone.

The central tower, which is a later addition, probably dating to the first half of the fourteenth century (CLAJ 1968, 253), is rectangular in plan with the remains of a stairwell in its SE angle. The tower only extends out as far as the inner faces of the nave and chancel walls, except at the SE where it projects to the outer face of the chancel wall in order to accomodate the stairs. It has two floor levels above the arch or vault with rectangular openings in the W and E facades at the lower level and in the upper at the W side. Access to the tower was gained from the first-floor level of the domestic range which adjoined the S side of the chancel via a doorway now blocked with a two-centred rounded arch in the S wall of the tower. There must also have been access to the chancel via stairs from first-floor level and from the domestic range. A limestone corbel at the first-floor level in the S wall may indicate the former presence of a wooden gallery and stairs which would have led to the choir. The rectangular openings gave entrance to the lofts over the nave and chancel. Over the rectangular openings in the first-floor level of the tower there are inverted V-shaped oversailings which represent the original line of the roof and appear to be of dressed sandstone. The tower angle which carries the stairwell projects slightly eastwards from the line of the tower.

The nave was much altered in later times by the addition of crenellations to the W wall and the placing of small towers at the SW and NW angles. The remains of the original two-centred rounded arch of the W window are visible on the inner face of the present W wall and appear on the outside built in tufa stone. The original windows at the N side have been blocked up, but the outline of three large ones with flattened arches of greywacke slabs are visible in the fabric of the wall. None of the remains have any dressed stone visible. The remains of three similar but smaller windows can be seen high up in the S wall of the nave. At the E end of the S wall there is a small niche with a high narrow inverted V-shaped arch.

A row of square holes with a string course immediately above them can be seen below the windows in the S facade of the S wall. They appear to have been used to carry a further structure outside the nave, almost certainly the roof of the cloister-walk. On the outside of the W gable wall is a machicolation carried on two corbels. In the centre of the W wall at ground level there are the remains of a now blocked up doorway. Only the upper two courses of the door jambs and the arch are visible on the W or outer face, the rest of the entrance being buried below the present ground surface. The doorway has a two-centred pointed arch constructed of hammer- or punch dressed moulded limestone with stop-labels. The remaining jamb stones are also of limestone and are punch-dressed and chamfered. It would appear that the doorway had an inner arch of cut stone which has now been completely removed.

Situated c. 20m S of the nave and chancel are the remains of a rectangular building of two periods. That at the E side is later since it is butted against the remains of the W building. The eastern part is built somewhat in the style of a tower house, having a combination of slit and rectangular windows, and is probably contemporary with the later fortification of the priory. The W building is in a much more ruined state and appears to have been part of the earlier domestic range. It has a N-S orientation with a standing gable at the S. The building originally extended northwards and was joined to the nave wall where there is clear evidence of tie stones. Also the pitch of the gable end can be seen in the top of the S nave wall which was given extra height here to accommodate it. The S gable contains a window which was later converted into a fireplace and a further small rectangular window over. The quoin stones and jambs of the slit windows in the E building are punch-dressed and late medieval in date. (JRSAI 1908, 314-16; CLAJ 1941, 8-10; CLAJ 1967, 143-60; CLAJ 1968, 253)

This is a National Monument in state ownership: No. 623