St. Declan's Monastery

St. Declan's Monastery

Mainistir Naomh Deaglán
Location within Ireland
Monastery information
Other names	Ardmore Cathedral
Order	Insular monasticism
Established	c. AD 430 [1]
Diocese	Waterford and Lismore
People
Founder(s)	Declán of Ardmore
Architecture
Status	ruined
Style	Norman, Romanesque, Gothic [ citation needed ]
Site
Location	Ardocheasty, Ardmore, County Waterford
Coordinates	51°56′55″N7°43′34″W / 51.94849721853025°N 7.725989770113471°W / 51.94849721853025; -7.725989770113471
Visible remains	Church, round tower, oratory
Public access	Yes
National Monument of Ireland
Official name	Ardmore
Reference no.	130

The round tower

St. Declan's Monastery, containing the remains of Ardmore Cathedral, is a former monastery and National Monument located in County Waterford, Ireland. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

Location

St. Declan's Monastery is located about 400 m (1⁄4 mile) southwest of Ardmore, County Waterford. Ardmore is built on a headland 7.5 km (4.7 mi) east of Youghal and the mouth of the Munster Blackwater. ^[5]

History

Reliefs on the west gable

Tradition states that the monastery was founded by Declán of Ardmore in the 5th century. ^[6] Ultan was the abbot in AD 550. ^[7]

The ogham stones are of the 5th or 6th century, while the stone chancel dates to the 9th century. St. Declan's Oratory was built in the 9th or 10th century to hold the founder's relics, while the round tower was built in the 12th century, and is considered one of the last such towers to be built. ^{[8] [9]} In 1174 the abbot's name was Eugene. ^[10]

The nave was added in the 12th century; it shows distinctive Romanesque arcading, with several Christian themes carved in stone, within two lunettes and a blind arcade. ^[11] Originally they would have been painted in bright colours but are now bare stone and badly eroded by 800 years of wind and rain; some are still recognisable as Adam and Eve, the Adoration of the Magi, Judgment of Solomon and Archangel Michael weighing souls. ^{[12] [13]} A bishop blessing a warrior — possibly a Crusader image or the conversion of the Déisi Muman to Christianity — is also visible. ^[14] These may have been inspired by similar carvings at pilgrimage sites such as Rome or Santiago de Compostela. ^[15]

Ardmore became a cathedral in 1152, the seat of the Bishop of Ardmore, Máel Étaín Ua Duib Ratha (Moelettrim O Duibh Rathra, Meolettrim O Duibh-rathra), who was suffragan to the Archbishop of Cashel; ^[16] by the 13th century the title was abolished and the diocese merged into Lismore, but the church still claims the name "Ardmore Cathedral". The arch was added in the late 12th or early 13th century; it lies on a high base, 142 cm (4.66 ft) high. The moulding of the archivolt is elaborate, and the capitals are sculptured with lotus buds. The church is recorded as being finished in 1203 when Máel Étaín Ua Duib Ratha died. ^[14]

Further work on the south wall and east gable was completed in the 14th century. Under the Irish Church Act 1869, money was allocated for the cathedral's preservation. ^[17]

Buildings

View from the choir of the church facing west into the nave; the great arch is at the centre.

The cathedral is of stone and is unroofed, divided into nave, chancel and choir. Eight medieval graveslabs are present, some decorated with fleur-de-lys, evidence of the site's Norman history.^{[ citation needed ]}

St Declan's stone oratory is floored in large flagstones and contains an empty grave recess; pilgrims used to remove earth from the hole. It measures 13 ft (4.0 m) by 8 ft (2.4 m) and its lintel is formed of a single long stone. ^[18]

The round tower is about 30 m (98 ft) high, with four storeys (each separated by a string-courses) and three small windows along its body and four windows at the top, one at each of the cardinal directions. ^{[19] [18]}

The ogham stones read:

• CIIC 263: LUGUDECCAS MAQỊ/ ̣ ̣ ? ̣ ̣MU]/COI NETA-SEGAMONAS/ DOLATI BIGAISGOB... ("Of Lugaid the smith's son of ...? of the tribe of Nad-Segamon, Dolativix the vice-bishop") Bigaisgob is thought to be from Latin vici episcopus, "rural/assistant bishop". ^{[19] [20]}
• CIIC 264: ...NACI MAQI ... ("-nach son of ...")
• CIIC 265: AMADU (Latin amātus, "beloved one [masculine]") ^{[21] [19] [22]}

Notable graves in the graveyard include:

• Declán of Ardmore
• Declan Hurton (Old IRA), killed at Thurles in the Irish War of Independence, December 1921 ^[23]
• Able Seaman Michael Moylan (Royal Navy), served aboard HMS Centurion (1911) in the First World War, died 1916 ^[24]
• Several drowning victims (mostly Polish) of the SS Ary disaster (February 1947) ^[25]

Gallery

• 
  Tomb
• 
  Carved capital
• 
  Carvings on the arcade: At top is the Judgement of Solomon, at bottom the Adoration of the Magi
• 
  Arcade carvings: Adam and Eve and, at right, a warrior kneeling before a bishop
• 
  Ogham stone (CIIC 263)
• 
  Ogham stone (CIIC 265) with Latin carving (amadu)
• 
  St Declan's Oratory
• 
  East face of the cathedral, with large buttresses
• 
  Grave of Declan Hurton (Old IRA); note the Easter lilies
• 
  Able Seaman Moylan's grave (First World War)
• 
  SS Ary graves

References

1. Hunt, Tom (1 March 2017). The Little Book of Waterford. History Press. ISBN   9780750969741 – via Google Books.
2. O'Keeffe, Tadhg (7 October 2003). Romanesque Ireland: Architecture and Ideology in the Twelfth Century. Four Courts. ISBN   9781851826179 – via Google Books.
3. Power, P. (7 July 2011). Life of St. Declan of Ardmore, and Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore. Benediction Classics. ISBN   9781849023733 – via Google Books.
4. Rees, Elizabeth (1 May 2013). Celtic Saints of Ireland. History Press. ISBN   9780752492919 – via Google Books.
5. Fallow, Thomas McCall (1894). The Cathedral Churches of Ireland. Bemrose & Sons. Limited.
6. "The Life of St. Declan of Ardmore". Good Press. 11 December 2019 – via Google Books.
7. Hayman, Samuel (7 October 1855). "Notes and Records of the Ancient Religious Foundations, at Youghal Co. Cork, and Its Vicinity". Richard F. Lindsay – via Google Books.
8. "Ardmore Round Tower". Ireland Highlights.
9. O'Dwyer, John G. (1 March 2017). Pilgrim Paths in Ireland. Gill & Macmillan Ltd. ISBN   9781848896390 – via Google Books.
10. Lanigan, John (7 October 1822). "An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, from the First Introduction of Christianity Among the Irish to the Beginning of the 13. Century". Graisberry – via Google Books.
11. Carragáin, Tomás Ó (7 October 2010). Churches in Early Medieval Ireland: Architecture, Ritual and Memory. Yale University Press. ISBN   9780300154443 – via Google Books.
12. "Ardmore Cathedral Was Built In 1170".
13. McNab, S. L. (1987). "The Romanesque Sculptures of Ardmore Cathedral, Co. Waterford". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 117: 50–68. JSTOR   25508922 – via JSTOR.
14. "Ardmore Cathedral, Ardmore, County Waterford".
15. Nolan, William; Power, Thomas P. (1992). Waterford History & Society. ISBN   9780906602201 – via books.google.ie.
16. Smith, J. T. (1972). "Ardmore Cathedral". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 102 (1): 1–13. JSTOR   25509768 – via JSTOR.
17. Bernard, William Leigh (1876). "The Irish Church Acts, 1869 & 1872" – via books.google.ie.
18. (Firm), John Murray (1878). "Handbook for Travellers in Ireland" – via books.google.ie.
19. "St. Declan's Monastery, Ardmore, Co. Waterford | Irish Archaeology". irisharchaeology.ie. 29 April 2015.
20. "Ardmore Ogham Stones". ancientireland.org.
21. "Ogham in 3D - Ardmore / 265. Ardmore III". ogham.celt.dias.ie.
22. MacAlister, R. A. Stewart (1908). "The Legendary Kings of Ireland". The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. 38 (1): 1–16. JSTOR   25507652 – via JSTOR.
23. "The graves of Sean Morrissey and Vol Declan Horton, IRA". Irish Volunteers.org.
24. "Abe.Sea. Michael Moylan Royal Navy HMS Centurion The Wartime Memories Project". wartimememoriesproject.com.
25. "The Loss Of The SS Ary - The Ardmore Journal - Waterford County Museum". www.waterfordmuseum.ie.