Great Connell Priory

In level pasture at the W foot of a low rise, some 300m E of the River Liffey. Augustinian Abbey/Priory founded in 1202 by Meyler Fitzhenry and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and St David (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 154, 177). It housed regular canons from the Monastery of Llanthony, in Monmouthshire, Wales. In 1458, the 'rectory and towns of Morristown and Ladytown' were granted to the Prior (Fitzgerald 1896-9, 305, 313).

The monastery as suppressed on the 24th of November 1540 and the monastic estate was described as following; 'Robert Wesley (presumably the last prior) was granted a pension of over £13, five other canons smaller amounts; the jurors found that all the buildings were standing as at the time of dissolution; the body of the church had been the parish ch[urch] from time immemorial, the chancel and the chapel of B.M. [Blessed Mary] to the north of it could be demolished, but the belfry could be converted into a castle or fortilage to defend the town (KD023-016004-) and district by the farmer who would need all other buildings, etc., on the 4-acre site; there was a dovecote (KD023-016003-) on the town walls (KD023-016005-), the demesne being 131 acres, and the possessions included over 1,260 acres, a mill (KD023-016006-), five castles, many messuages and cottages' (White 1943, 157; Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 177). The monastic estate was granted to Edward Randolfe and in reversion to Sir Edw. Butler, and re-granted in 1560 to Sir Nicholas White: and to Sir Edmond Butler in 1566' (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 177).

In 1781, the extant ruins of Greatconnell Abbey were sketched by Austin Cooper who recorded that; 'one part which I suppose to be both nave and choir, but between which no distinct separation can be made, measures about 200 feet long (c. 61m) and 25 feet broad (c. 7.6m), in part where of are two entire Gothic windows ... very extensive ruins adjoining, in which are some pillars, with curious capitals. In the choir ... the remains of some stalls ... among the ruins ... the tomb of bishop ... Wellesley' (Fitzgerald ibid, 313). Cooper’s drawing shows the S wall of the nave with a doorway to the cloister garth, the ruins of which are also partially shown, the ruins of an arch indicating a N aisle, and the lower courses of the E window of the Lady Chapel (pers. comm. Mr. Conleth Manning, 2005). This E window of the Lady Chapel is the only portion that remains upstanding and has been incorporated into the boundary of the post-1700 graveyard (NLI Coo 2122 TX (1) 3).

Most of the abbey buildings were demolished at the beginning of the 19th century and the material was used for the erection of military barracks at Newbridge (Fitzgerald ibid, 313). The E gable of the Lady Chapel was incorporated into the E and S walls of a post-1700 graveyard (KD023-016001-) which occupies the E end of the chapel, including the lower courses of a buttressed E gable wall containing the base of a large window, and a projecting NE angle with a battered base faced with finely dressed granite ashlar. Incorporated in the S wall of the graveyard is a length of arcading, now missing any dressed stone. The Urban Survey of Kildare (Bradley et. al. 1986 vol. 3, 228-9 Fig. 104) recorded that Bishop Walter Wellesley’s effigial tomb (KD023-016002-) was removed from Greatconnell Abbey to its present location (KD022-029034-) in St. Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare (KD022-029005-).

In 2006, an archaeological geophysical survey (Bonsall and Grimson 2006) revealed and mapped extensive (7 hectares) sub-surface remains associated with the priory including a possible deserted settlement (KD023-016004-). Features identified included levelled masonry remains, probable burials, a possible trivallate enclosure, a street pattern and burgage plots together with areas of plough furrows on multiple alignments. Google Earth aerial imagery taken 28/06/2018 shows extensive cropmarks belonging to the monastery of Great Connell in the fields to the S, SW and W of the abbey graveyard. (Fitzgerald 1891-95, 149; 1903-5, 297; 1912-14, 257, 267, 269; Leask 1935-45, 273-4; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 206; Healy 1984, 2)