Lislaughtin Abbey

National Monument No. 258. Lislaughtin Abbey situated N of Glashanagalloon stream (Glaise na nGealbhan, stream of the sparrows), and N of the friary lies Ballylongford Creek. This Franciscan house was built by John O'Connor Kerry for the monks of the strict Observantine Rule.

It consists of a long house, 29m x 5.2m internally, which is divided into choir and nave. It originally had a square tower over the choir arch. This tower, which was documented by O'Donovan in 1841, fell in the last century. The arches supporting the tower were pointed and constructed of thin flagstones. It measured c 60 feet in height and consisted of four storeys.

The nave has two doorways providing access to the interior. The doorway on the W gable, which would have been the main entrance is formed of cut limestone in the pointed style, and stands 1.9m high x 1.4m wide. Over this doorway is a pointed window, originally twin-lighted by a stone mullion which no longer exists. The second doorway lies on the S wall and is c 1.4m from the W gable. Also formed of limestone in the pointed style, it is 1.7m high x .8m wide. In the interior of the nave on the N wall are two tomb niches with ogee-form hoods and towering pinnacles.

Other buildings would appear to have extended from the W of the nave, but only the remains of a wall c 22m in length survives.

The choir is lighted by a fine E window divided into four lights by stone mullions, which is surmounted by bar tracery. It is 2m wide externally and splays to 2.5m wide internally. It rises to c 3.7m high. The S wall of the choir contains three windows all divided into two by stone mullions. The central window mullion no longer exists. The windows are all pointed and formed of cut limestone, and all are within a rectangular frame.

Recessed into the S wall of the choir is a triple sedilia, stone seats which provided seating for the ministers. According to Leask (1960, 166), the sedilia in Lislaughtin are so similar to those at Adare and Askeaton, Co. Limerick, that they could have come from the same mason.

On the N wall of the choir is a doorway leading to a long lateral two storey building, 5.4m x 17.2m internally. It is lighted by 30 windows. The refectory was on the ground floor, while the dormitory was above. Immediately NE of this building lies a towerlike structure which would appear to be the garderobe.

The transept abuts the S wall of the church and originally it could have been partly to the S to SW of the tower (Mooney 1956, 125-169). According to O'Donovan (1841), the E wall was in line with the W side of the tower. It is 4.7m x c 9.5m internally. The S gable displays a fine pointed window contained within a square frame; it is divided into four lights by stone mullions and is surmounted by bar tracery.

This Franciscan friary is believed to be sited on an earlier church (KE003-016003-) dedicated to St Lachtin of Muskeriy, Co. Cork, who died in 622 AD. His feast day is on 19 March. St Lachtin is held in great veneration by the local people, who swear by the hand of St Lachtin. This relic, which is housed in the National Museum in Dublin, dates to the 10th century.

John O'Connor Kerry, the father of Conor O'Connor who built nearby Carrigafoyle Castle (KE002-045----), probably started building the abbey in 1470. In May 1477, Pope Sixtus IV gave O'Connor permission to house the Franciscan friars; it took until 1478 for the mandate to reach the prior of Ballinskelligs and for him to grant the licence to the friars to finally occupy the abbey.

After the fall of Carrigafoyle Castle in April 1580, Lislaughtin Abbey was destroyed and three aged friars, Fathers Donatus O'Hanrahan, Philip O'Shea and Maurice O'Scallan, were murdered before the high altar. It was not re-occupied until 1629, and by the 1640s/1650s it was again in danger, this time from the Cromwellians who sacked the abbey in 1652. Monks who tried to escape the Cromwellian soldiers were caught in a nearby glen and had their ears cut off: the glen is now called Gleann Cluasach, glen of the ears.

Although a list of guardians exist for Lislaughtin up until 1860, the last being John Tuomy, we are not certain when the Franciscans actually abandoned the abbey. The importance of Lislaughtin can also be seen in the fine processional cross (KE003-016002-) which was found in a field near by the abbey in 1871. A Gothic inscription on the upper limbs of, the cross reads:

'Cornelius son of John O'Connor, head of his sept and Eibhlm, daughter of the Knight, caused me to be made at the hands of William O'Connor, A.D. 1479' ( 1983, 181). John O'Connor Kerry, the builder of Lislaughtin, had died in 1478, so this cross was possibly commissioned by his son Connor as a gift to the friary.