Roscrea Friary

National Monument No. 10005. Situated on the S side of Abbey Street in the town of Roscrea, the N wall and bell-tower are now used as an entrance into the RC church. A fifteenth-century Franciscan friary founded sometime before 1477 (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 258). The remains are poorly preserved with only the N wall, E gable and bell-tower surviving. Originally the friary consisted of a nave and chancel (dims. 8m N-S; 13.3m E-W) church divided by a crenellated bell-tower two storeys high. In the E gable a pointed, mullioned and transomed, traceried window is now blocked up by the adjoining house which has been built onto the E end of the church. Two twin-light ogee-headed windows survive intact in the N wall of the chancel with hollow spandrels and external hood-mouldings. The bell-tower is carried on high pointed arches with a number of mason's marks incised into the stonework. There are no visible remains of the cloister area which is usually located to the S of the friary. Fragmentary architectural remains of the cloister arcade have been cemented into the base of the bell-tower. In 1568 it was recorded that the precincts of the friary measured two acres and contained the friar's house, with dormitory, hall, prior's chamber, chapel, cemetery, garden and two orchards (ibid.). The Civil Survey of 1654-6 recorded that the site had become a large ruined abbey (Simington 1934, vol. 2, 29). In the early 1800s the friary was partially destroyed by the builders of the adjacent parish church (Killanin and Duignan 1967, 415). Graveyard (TN012-010012-) to S of friary.