Kilmacduagh Glebe House

Part of the monastic complex at Kilmacduagh and situated 100m to the NNE of the cathedral (GA128-034004-). This edifice, now a National Monument, has been variously interpreted as a 'seminary' and/or the residence of the abbot or bishop (Fahey 1904, 230; Harbison 1975, 95). The original building was a rectangular two-storey hall-house (16.2m E-W; 6.7m N-S), aligned roughly E-W, that was accessed via a doorway at 1st-floor level in the S wall. It most likely dates to the 13th century but a number of major alterations are evident, most recently the restoration which involved re-roofing the E half of the building with a gabled roof and crenellated parapet. Only the E jamb of the original doorway survives. Below and slightly to the E of it is a beam slot which probably supported the external wooden staircase. The ground-floor chamber appears to have been originally roofed with wooden beams, the slots for which survive internally at the W end. It was lit by narrow slit windows, set in wide embrasures, in contrast to the original 1st floor which was lit by a number of two-light cusped and pointed-arch windows. The ground and 1st-floor chambers are now subdivided by an internal wall. This is possibly part of a late medieval re-edification which saw the E part rebuilt as a three-storey tower house-like building. The entrance to this is via a pointed-arch doorway at ground-floor level at the E end of the S wall. Fahey (1904, 230) noted 'an oriel [window], looking north-east … on the upper floor'; all that now survives is a large ope in the W wall. There were two rectangular projections on the N and S walls close to the NE and SW corners, respectively. That on the SW corner survives only as a foundation line (5m E-W; 3.4m N-S). (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 162)