2001:224 - MOURNEABBEY, Cork

The medieval church site of Mourneabbey is on the east side of the Clyda river valley, close to the junction of the Clyda River with the Abbey Stream, c. 6km south of Mallow. It is on low-lying wet land surrounded by low hills on all sides. Excavation at the site was carried out in March 2001 in advance of a programme of conservation undertaken by the Historic Monuments Committee of Cork County Council.

The Knights Hospitallers’ preceptory at Mourneabbey was founded in the early 13th century. Today the standing remains consist of portions of a curtain wall with a rectangular and a semicircular tower, enclosing a large area of ground within which is a graveyard enclosure containing the ruined church. The church consists of a nave (28.6m x 8.2m) and a ruined chancel (5.95m wide, full length unknown) with evidence for two transepts, now almost totally destroyed.

Trenches were excavated along the inner and outer faces of the south wall of the chancel and at the junction of the south transept with the nave and chancel. The excavations on the south wall of the chancel revealed that the foundations of the missing portion of this wall survived just below the surface. These foundations were exposed, establishing that the full internal length of the chancel was 20m. A portion of the east wall was also uncovered, extending 3.16m from the south-east corner. Excavation was not continued beyond this point because of the presence of a modern grave kerb.

The internal south-east corner of the chancel was occupied by a tomb measuring 2.2m east–west by 0.94m which clearly post-dates the destruction of the chancel. The tomb was formed by constructing a drystone wall parallel to the south wall of the chancel and then roofing the area with large sandstone slabs resting on the drystone wall and on the foundations of the chancel wall. The open west end of the tomb had been partially blocked using several large stones, including two sections of limestone window jambs of late medieval appearance.

Excavations at the south side of the church established conclusively the line of the west wall of the south transept. The lower courses of this wall survived for a distance of 1.1m south of the south-east corner of the nave, at which point it was cut by a burial, though the east face continues further beyond the excavated area. This wall was constructed on a plinth course extending c. 0.3m out from the wall face.

Approximately 200 fragments of glazed floor tiles were recovered during the excavations. From the few fragments that can be fitted together it can be established that the tiles measured 110mm square and were 35mm thick. A small number of fragments seem to have belonged to triangular tiles. Some of the tiles were plain but many were decorated with a white pattern on a red background. It has not been possible to piece together any one complete decorated tile but the patterns conform well with the type Eames and Fanning (1988) refer to as ‘two-colour square tiles’, examples of which are known from several sites in Ireland, such as Christ Church and St Patrick’s cathedrals in Dublin and Graiguenamanagh Abbey, Co. Kilkenny. The patterns seem to include animal and bird motifs as well as possible fleurs-de-lis and rosettes.

Reference
Eames, E. S. and Fanning, T. 1988 Irish medieval tiles. Dublin.

Ballynanelagh, Rathcormac, Co. Cork