Holy Trinity Abbey

The Praemonstratensian abbey of Holy Trinity was founded c. 1215 by Clarus Mac Mailin O Maelconaire, dean of Elphin, and was liberally endowed by the Mac Dermots, including land at Kilbryan on the shore to the S where Kilbryan church (RO006-038001-) probably functioned as a parish church for the home farm (Clyne 2010, 69). The abbey was captured briefly by Anglo-Normans in 1235, and in 1237 a daughter house was founded at Lough Oughter, Co. Cavan. It is listed as Locque Cononicoriem (the place of the canons) in the ecclesiastical taxation of Elphin in 1306 (Cal. Doc. Ire. vol. 5, 225). In 1310 rival abbots arose, and it was burned in 1466 when a wooden image of the Trinity was destroyed (Roe 1979, 145). In the later middle ages it was the effective head of the order in Ireland, and had extensive possessions in the late sixteenth century, particularly in Sligo, according to a rental of the abbot, Cornelius McGyllohcran (Clyne 2010). After the Suppression it was held by the MacDermots and continued to be occupied until c. 1594 when it was granted to Robert Harrison, but it may have continued to be occupied by monks until 1608. The Annals of Lough Key were compiled here in the later 16th century under the patronage of Brian Mac Dermot of the Rock. (Gwynne and Hadcock 1970, 205)

The abbey is situated on the oval wooded Trinity Island (dims c. 170m NE-SW; c. 80m NW-SE), c. 200m from the S shore of the lake. There is a slipway (RO006-036003-) (Wth 2.4m; H 0.2-0.6m) partly overlain by the modern pier at the NE end of the SE shore. The church was conserved as a National Monument in the 1990s when the chancel, the W end of the nave, the sacristy, and the E range were excavated in 1991 and 1992 (Clyne 1992; 1993; 2005).

A nave and chancel church (int. dims 33.5m E-W; 6.8m N-S) whose conserved walls survive complete (H c. 4m), apart from the W wall which is reduced to the foundations. A gallery is indicated at the W end by windows placed high in the N and S walls and beam-holes 4.25m from the W end of the N and S nave walls. All the windows have external chamfers but no glazing bars. The N nave wall has one round-headed, two lancet windows, and a blocked doorway. The S nave wall has a lancet and a two-light window whose head does not survive. There are two sets of tie-stones on the outer face of the W end of the S wall, but excavation shows that no building was constructed here. Between these tie-stones is a C-shaped masonry structure (Wth 2.7m; D 1.6m; H 2.4m) which has been identifed as a memorial to Sir Conyers Clifford, Governor of Connacht, who was buried here after the Battle of the Curlew Mountains (RO006-002----) in 1599 (Clyne 2005, 60-1). A rood-screen and loft separated the nave and chancel, evidenced by three beam-holes placed high on the N and S walls and a doorway to the loft in the S wall.

The chancel has a tripple sedillia in the S wall beneath a lancet window, and it contained a tomb. There is a double aumbry with moulded surrounds and provision for doors in the N wall with a window over. A sculpted stone (RO006-036002-) with an image of the Madona (H c. 0.9m; Wth c. 0.45m) has been lost from this window since the early 20th century (Sharkey 1927, 143-4; MacLeod 1945, 174-5). The E window has twin lancets with a transome, although it may originally have been a simple lancet. A doorway in the N wall leads to a sacristy (int. dims 4.5m E-W; 6.5m N-S) whose walls barely survive (max. H 1m). It had a doorway (Wth 0.9m) in the W wall, two aumbries in the N, and a light in the E walls. Its upper level does not survive.

The E range (ext. dims 22.25m N-S; 7.5m E-W) with five rooms hardly survives (H c. 1m). At the N were two rooms (int. dims. 4.5m N-S; 2.3m E-W: 4.5m N-S; 3.1m), each probably leading to night stairs that do not survive, and each with a doorway leading to the church. From these rooms there is also a doorway in the W wall, but there was never a cloister. Nor were a S and W range ever constructed. The second room from the N (int. dims 8.25m N-S; 6.1m E-W) was probably the chapter house with a doorway to the W (Wth 0.9m; 1.4m) and one to the E (Wth 0.8m), which has a draw-bar socket (L 1.7m) in the S jamb. There is a garderobe chute (int. dims 2.8m N-S; 1.2m E-W; H 4m) with an outlet at the base of the S wall attached to the externally to the E wall of the S chamber.

Excavation revealed the base of the W doorway of the church in a second W wall, built immediately outside the original wall, creating the large masonry piers at the W end of the church. At the E end of the church the base of the sedilia built on a tomb were recovered, but an altar (dims 2.53m x 1.86m) was a late feature, and is now removed. The sacristy was a two-period structure (original int. dims 5.5m E-W; 4.4m N-S), being expanded to its present dimensions after the fire of 1466. Rooms in the E range were also excavated.

Over 230 inhumations were recorded in all areas excavated, but were particularly scarce in the sacristy and the E range. Adult males and females as well as children were represented, although an exclusive male group E of the E range probably represents burials of the early community. A rich array of artefacts were recovered, including coins, brooches, gilt bronzes, a ring and a hoard of fifteen coins minted between 1535-96, but pottery was scarce. (Clyne 2005)

This is a National Monument in state guardianship: No. 556.