County: Donegal Site name: Rathmullan and Ballyboe
Sites and Monuments Record No.: DG037-007003 Licence number: C000813; E004861
Author: Richard Crumlish
Site type: Medieval priory
Period/Dating: —
ITM: E 629600m, N 927534m
Latitude, Longitude (decimal degrees): 55.094348, -7.536284
Three phases of conservation works took place at Saint Mary's Priory (RMP DG037-007003) in Rathmullan, County Donegal, between 2017 and 2020, under Ministerial Consent No. C000813. The works, which were funded by Donegal County Council, were overseen by a conservation architect with a number of visits made by the writer. These visits included inspection of the works as they progressed and the identification, cataloging and storage of architectural fragments. No groundworks were necessary during the conservation works.
The Priory was founded in the early years of the 16th century for the Carmelite Order by Owen Roe MacSweeney and survived intact until 1595 when it was plundered by George Bingham, a captain in the Sligo garrison. It came into the possession of the Bishop of Raphoe, Andrew Knox, in the early 17th century. He converted the nave and south transept into a private dwelling with the tower and chancel used as a private chapel. The chancel served as a parish church from 1706 until 1814. The house probably fell into disuse when the Knox family left in the late 18th century.
The upstanding remains on the site are of two phases. The first phase dates to the 16th century and consists of a church (nave, chancel, tower and south transept) and domestic buildings to the north with the latter phase associated with Bishop Knox's alterations in the 17th century. There is a graveyard to the south of the buildings and a small number of burials within what was originally a cloister to the north of the church.
Forty-nine architectural fragments, which were recovered during the works, were securely stored on site. Three oak timbers, which appeared to have originated from one of the floors of the tower, were conserved. A sample from one of the timbers provided a dendrochronological date range from AD1552 to AD1658 with the best estimated felling date after AD1690. This date correlated well with the chancel becoming a parish church in 1706.
4 Lecka Grove, Castlebar Road, Ballinrobe, County Mayo
