Court Friary

In undulating pasture, straddling a N-S rise; in the NW quadrant of a graveyard (SL032-047002-). A Franciscan foundation known locally as 'Court Abbey', the remains of which consist of a rectangular church with a central tower and a rectangular transept on its S side (see plan Harbison 2002, 97). Built of roughly coursed limestone in a lime mortar, except for the tower which is faced with limestone ashlar. The nave and chancel are of one phase but the tower and transept are later insertions. The interior of the church contains many 19th- and 20th-century burials. The chancel (surviving for c. 10m E-W; int. 6.5m N-S; ) is missing its E end; a slight break in slope, 12.3m from the tower, marks the line of the E wall; an illustration by Grose (1791, vol. 1, 52) shows the stump of it in this position. An 18th-century burial vault of the O'Hara family is set into the NW corner. The nave (int. 12m E-W; 6.5m N-S) walls stand to full height but are masked by ivy. In the centre of the W wall is a doorway, missing its surround. On its N side, on the internal wall-face, is a damaged stoup with a semicircular bowl. Near the W end of the S wall is another doorway. The rectangular tower (4.2m E-W; 6.5m N-S) occupies the full width of the church, between the nave and chancel. It rises from four rectangular piers, butted against the side-walls of the church. These form two identical bluntly pointed arched openings facing respectively into the nave and chancel; both arches have a moulded soffit rib. There is a doorway and window in the S wall of the church, between the piers. At approximately the level of the side-walls of the latter, the tower has a segmental wicker-centred vault (axis N-S) terminated at either end by a dressed limestone segmental arch. As the tower rises it narrows to approximately half the width of the church. On the W and E faces the flashing course for the apex of the church roof is evident. Below this on the W side is a doorway that must have accessed a wooden gallery overlooking the nave. In the same position on the E side is a small rectangular opening which probably gave access to an attic over the chancel. Above the roof level of the church, two string courses encircle the tower; the NE corner is missing above the level of the upper string course. At its uppermost level, on the W face, is a central window with a single ogee-headed light (much of the surround is missing). On the S face is a central window with a mullion and transom division and two ogee-headed lights with recessed spandrels and a hood-moulding. The battlements which once crowned the tower are missing but water-spouts draining the wall-walk are evident. An 18th-century plan (Harbison 2002, 97) shows a spiral stairs between the SE corner of the tower and the E wall of the transept but this is completely blocked up.

The transept (int. 10.9m N-S; 6.75m E-W) is built against the S wall of the church and a wide archway (Wth 3.95m) gives access to it from the nave. This arch is similar to those in the tower but rises from pillared imposts with plainly moulded capitals (the bases of the imposts are under ground level). The W wall of the transept is blank. In the centre of the S gable is a damaged ivy-clad window; the light is pointed and, judging by the stumps on the sill and jambs, had plain switchline tracery. The E wall has two similar side-altar recesses (Wth 3m). The recesses are square-set and then splayed inwards towards a central window light (most of both surrounds are missing); a tall rounded arch covers both embrasures. On the internal corner of both recesses, on the S side, are square recesses which are covered by quarter-domes. Each has a shallow basin with a drainage hole indicating that these are piscinae (Leask 1960, vol. 3, 181). Between the two side-altars recesses is a small rectangular mural chamber, the round-arched doorway of which is almost completely blocked by a late 18th-century headstone. Flanking this doorway are two flat projecting stones, at slightly different heights. Beneath the ivy cover on the areas of the W wall and the side-altars are faint traces of original paint on plaster rendering, which were noted by Grose (1797, vol. 1, 52).

This was a mid-15th-century Franciscan Third Order Regular foundation, at which 'building had already begun in 1454' (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 270); unusually it was probably a joint community of both 'brothers and sisters' (Ó Clabaigh 2002, 93). A late 16th-century inquisition describes it as consisting of 'a thatched church, with cemetery, dormitory and two other thatched houses' (ibid.). The style of the church is consistent with a mid-15th-century date, whilst the tower and transept are not later than the 16th century. A field system (SL032-047004-) is evident to the E and S. The foundation at Kilcummin (SL031-006001-), c. 5km to the W, was described by Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 271) as 'a small dependency' of Court Abbey. A rath (SL032-047003-) lies c. 20m to the ESE.