St. Wolstan's Priory

Last updated

St. Wolstan's Priory
Prióireacht San Ualstain [1]
St Wolstan's Abbey, Celbridge.jpg
Remnants of the abbey, viewed from the north.
Dublin map.png
Red pog.svg
Location relative to Dublin
Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
St. Wolstan's Priory (Ireland)
Monastery information
Other namesScala Caeli
Order Victorines
Established1202/05
Mother house Abbey of Saint-Victor, Paris
Diocese Dublin
People
Founder(s) Adam de Hereford
Architecture
Statusruined
Style Norman
Site
LocationSt. Wolstan's, Celbridge, County Kildare
Coordinates 53°20′37″N6°31′02″W / 53.343605°N 6.517151°W / 53.343605; -6.517151
Visible remainstwo gateways, tower
Public accessNo

St. Wolstan's Priory is a former Augustinian (Victorine) monastery located in County Kildare, Ireland. [2]

Contents

Location

St. Wolstan's Priory is located on the eastern edge of Celbridge, on the south bank of the River Liffey; it lies 1 km (0.62 mi) southeast of Castletown House and about 1.8 km (1.1 mi) east-northeast of Celbridge's Main Street.

History

The priory was founded in 1202 (or, according to William of Ware, 1205) by Adam de Hereford, one of the Anglo-Norman leaders of the Norman conquest of Ireland. It was founded for canons of the order of St Victor and was named after the recently canonised Saint Wulfstan (died 1095). The early buildings were nicknamed Scala Coeli, "stairs of heaven." [3]

The monastery was granted the lands around Donaghcumper Church. In 1271 William de Mandesham, seneschal to Fulk Basset, Archbishop of Dublin, granted to the priory the lands of Tristildelane, modern Castledillon.[ citation needed ]

In 1308 a bridge across the River Liffey was built at his own expense by John Le Decer, Mayor of Dublin, next to the gate of St. Wolstan's. [4] In 1314 the churches of Stacumney and Donaghmore were granted to the sole and separate use of the prior.[ citation needed ]

In 1536 the priory and lands were seized by King Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was the first monastery in Ireland to be suppressed and the last prior, Richard Weston, was granted a room in the monastery and supplied with food and fuel for the rest of his life. [5] It was granted to John Alan, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, in 1538. [6]

The buildings of the priory were probably converted into a house for Sir John Alan before his death in 1561. [7] The Alen family lived at St. Wolstans for 216 years. They resided in the priory for much of this period and later built the house. [5]

In 1782 the ruins were visited and sketched by Austin Cooper (1759–1830). [8]

In 1955 the site was purchased by the Holy Faith Sisters, who established St. Wolstan's Holy Faith Convent School. The school has since moved site but retains the name of St Wolstan's Community School.

It was partially excavated in 2002 as part of an archeological assessment, but nothing of significance was found. [9]

Remains

The remains consist of two gateways, a four-storey tower, and two fragments. [3] [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wulfstan (died 1095)</span> 11th-century Bishop of Worcester and saint

Wulfstan was an English Benedictine monk who served as Bishop of Worcester from 1062 to 1095. He was the last surviving pre-Conquest bishop. Wulfstan is a saint in the Western Christian churches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celbridge</span> Town in County Kildare, Ireland

Celbridge is a town and townland on the River Liffey in County Kildare, Ireland. It is 23 km (14 mi) west of Dublin. Both a local centre and a commuter town within the Greater Dublin Area, it is located at the intersection of the R403 and R405 regional roads. As of the 2022 census, Celbridge was the third largest town in County Kildare by population, with 20,601 residents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Straffan</span> Village in County Kildare, Ireland

Straffan is a village in County Kildare, Ireland, situated on the banks of the River Liffey, 25 km upstream of the Irish capital Dublin. As of the 2016 census, the village had a population of 853, a nearly two-fold increase since the 2006 census.

Ardclough, officially Ardclogh, is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, who is said to have returned to the maternal homestead of the Reads at Huttonread to give birth in the tradition of the time.

County Kildare in the province of Leinster, Ireland, was first defined as a diocese in 1111, shired in 1297 and assumed its present borders in 1836. Its location in the Liffey basin on the main routes from Dublin to the south and west meant it was a valuable possession and important theatre of events throughout Irish history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oughter Ard</span> Ecclesiastical site in County Kildare, Ireland

Oughterard is an ecclesiastical hilltop site, graveyard, townland, and formerly a parish, borough and royal manor in County Kildare, nowadays part of the community of Ardclough, close to the Dublin border. It is the burial place of Arthur Guinness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir Thomas Alen, 1st Baronet</span> Irish Baronet

Sir Thomas Allen, 1st Baronet was the eldest son of John Alen of St. Wolstan's, near Celbridge, County Kildare and Anne, daughter of Thomas Dillon of Riverstown, County Meath. He was the grandnephew of John Alan, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, who acquired St Wolstan's on the dissolution of the monasteries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Celbridge Abbey</span>

Celbridge Abbey is located in Celbridge, County Kildare in Ireland.

Events from the year 1536 in Ireland.

Castledillon is a civil parish on the banks of the River Liffey near Straffan, County Kildare in Ireland. The civil parish, which is approximately 4.4 km2 (1.7 sq mi) in area, contains the townlands of Castledillon Lower and Castledillon Upper.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kilteel</span> Village in County Kildare, Ireland

Kilteel is the name of a village, townland and civil parish located in the barony of South Salt, County Kildare, Ireland. The townland of Kilteel Upper contains the remains of a church with a decorated Romanesque chancel arch, the ruins of a 13th-century preceptory of the Knights Hospitaller and a well-preserved 15th-century tower house. The historic settlement is located on the southwest corner of the English Pale and served an important function as a border fortress during the medieval period.

Sir Gerald Aylmer was an Irish judge in the time of Henry VIII, who played a key part in enforcing the Dissolution of the Monasteries. His numerous descendants included the Barons Aylmer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leixlip</span> Town in County Kildare, Ireland

Leixlip is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and Brega, as an outpost of The Pale, and on Kildare's border with County Dublin. Leixlip was also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Salt North.

Sir John Alan was a leading English-born statesman in sixteenth century Ireland. He was a member of the Irish House of Commons, and held the offices of Master of the Rolls in Ireland, Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Though he was childless himself, one of his brothers, William, founded a prominent landowning dynasty in County Kildare. The family's holdings included lands at Celbridge, St. Wolstan's and Kilteel, County Kildare, as well as substantial lands in County Dublin. They also acquired a baronetcy.

Adam de Hereford was one of the first generation of Norman colonisers in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Wolstan's Community School</span> School in Republic of Ireland

St. Wolstan's Community School is an all-female community school in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. It's under the trusteeship of the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, the Holy Faith Sisters and Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board. It is the only all-girls community school in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Augustinian Friary of the Most Holy Trinity, Dublin</span>

The Augustinian Friary of the Most Holy Trinity was an Augustinian Roman Catholic Priory, founded c. 1259, by the family of Talbot on the south bank of the river, in what is now Crow Street, Dublin. At the time the priory was built, it was just outside the city walls. The Friary most likely followed the design of the parent priory Clare Priory in the town of Clare, Suffolk (England). The Friary was suppressed in 1540 when it was described as a "church with belfry, a hall and dormitory". The friars continued to operate in secret within the city. and there are several mentions of them in the city archives until the late 1700s when they consecrated a new church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donaghcumper Church</span> Ruined medieval church in Ireland

Donaghcumper Church is a ruined medieval church in Celbridge, Ireland. On the Record of Monuments and Places it bears the code KD011-013.

John Le Decer was a fourteenth-century Mayor of Dublin, who had a notable record of charitable works and civic improvement.

References

  1. "Prióireacht San Ualstain/Saint Wolstans".
  2. Murray, James (21 July 2011). Enforcing the English Reformation in Ireland: Clerical Resistance and ... - James Murray - Google Books. ISBN   9780521369947 . Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  3. 1 2 "St Wolstan's by William Kirkpatrick (1896) | Ardclough Community Council". Ardclough.wordpress.com. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  4. Lewis, Samuel (1837). "A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland - Samuel Lewis - Google Books" . Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  5. 1 2 By: Mick @ MBE (6 June 2014). "Ruins of St Wolstans Monastry [sic] Adam de Hereford, a Norman K…". Flickr. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  6. Betham, William "Baronetage of England" London 1803
  7. "1730s – St Wolstan's, Celbridge, Co. Kildare – Archiseek – Irish Architecture". Archiseek.com. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  8. "Holdings: Ruins of the Priory of St: Wolstan, Co:y Kildare". Catalogue.nli.ie. 26 May 1782. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  9. "8205 « Excavations". Excavations.ie. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  10. "St Wolstan's Priory, Co. Kildare: this four-storey tower has also undergone major renovations | The Discovery Programme - Europeana Collections". Europeana.eu. Retrieved 15 January 2020.