The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Clare (now)
Parish church
A small roofless oratory approx. 6.65 m x 3.91 m (Westropp), with
gables and side walls intact. The lower walls contain
large limestone blocks; the quoins are rounded at the
angle and some have a slight arris
roll. A number of heads and corbels
are set into the walls. The original W doorway is blocked with rubble masonry,
and a later medieval doorway is inserted into the N wall. Romanesque sculpture
is found on the W doorway to the nave, in the E gable
window, on a head set above the N doorway, and on various corbels. There is also a plain font. Near the oratory are two
house-shaped shrines or tombs, constructed of stone slabs.
Augustinian house, former
Single-aisled church and monastic buildings with cloister. In the S wall of the nave are a plain round-headed doorway with a single square order and a window with two plain chamfered orders externally. The church has no Romanesque sculpture.
Parish church, formerly Irish monastic house
The church has a nave and chancel, 9.29 m x 6.1 and 4.44m x 3.81m respectively (Westropp, Leask). The nave has antae at both E and W ends. The chancel contains a stone altar. There is a round tower SW of the church. Romanesque sculpture is found in the W doorway, on the chancel corbel table, the S windows, the chancel arch and altar, and on two crosses set against the N wall of the nave. The W doorway was reconstructed in 1979-80, and the nave has recently been re-roofed.
Augustinian house, former
A long narrow church, 20.12m x 5.03m (Westropp), with no separation of nave and chancel. The walls at the W end of the church stand approx. 2 m
high; the E end with its gable survives to full height. A
sacristy (on N side of chancel) and
S transept were added in the 15thc., as were a domicile or conventual buildings at the W
end of the nave on the S side. The S doorway to the nave retains jambs only, which seem
to be late medieval. Romanesque sculpture is found in the E gable window.
Castle
A late medieval castle, housing an Archaeology Centre. Two loose fragments displayed in the castle bear 12thc. sculpture; (i) was discovered in rubble outside Dysert O'Dea churchyard in 1985 and (ii) was found in the churchyard at Rathblathmaic.
Cistercian House, former
The plan of the abbey church is a reduced version of the usual Cistercian scheme. There is an aisled nave, although the arcades are not symmetrical and there is some doubt as to whether the N aisle was ever completed. Each transept has only one chapel and there is a two-bay, rib-vaulted chancel.
The S transept chapel is barrel vaulted with a plain round-headed E window.
The quality of the carving in the E end of the church is good, but it dimishes westwards. The church was shortened during the later Middle Ages by the insertion of a wall that was surmounted by a tower. The upper walls were also remodelled during this period. The buildings of the E range and some ruinous structures in the outer precincts, including the gatehouse, remain.
Cathedral, former
The building has a roofless chancel, with a
triple window in the E gable. The sacristy, N of the chancel, is also
roofless although the nave is still in use. The nave has traces of pointed
arches suggesting the original presence of side aisles (Harbison, 1996). There
is an internal staircase in the W gable, which may
date partly from the early 13thc. building. The stepped gable with a short pyramidal tower is a later construction,
incorporating reused Romanesque capitals at the corners. A number of stone
crosses are situated in the chancel, graveyard and a
field W of the
church.
Cathedral church
A large aisleless cruciform early gothic church with a central tower over the crossing. The transept is almost central, with the choir slightly longer than the nave. Total length approx. 55 m., w. across transept approx. 39 m. (Nave 18.59m x9.14m; chancel 19.8m x 9.14m; N transept 7.21m x 5.86m; S transept 9.57m x 6.88m - Westropp). The choir has a large three-light E window, and there is a double window in the E wall of the S transept. Tall, narrow, pointed windows in the chancel, the N wall of the N transept, the S and W walls of the S transept and in the nave, with a single recessed exterior order (chamfered in the S transept and nave). The choir and transept contain a series of richly carved transitional or early gothic corbels. The W facade has clasping buttresses with angle rolls. Romanesque sculpture is also found on a number of features: capitals in the aumbries flanking the E window; a richly decorated doorway in the S wall of the nave; two reused grave slabs under the doorway; a font in the nave; a number of reused Romanesque stones incorporated into the fabric of the church, and some loose stones stored in the vestry. There is also a stone cross from Kilfenora in the nave.
Augustinian house, former
The church has an undivided nave and chancel,
with the E end raised approx. 0.9 m over a vaulted crypt. The E wall has two round-headed windows traversed by a
wall-passage and is 11.2 m wide; the church is narrower at the W end. In the
15thc. the present W wall was built, shortening the church, which was
originally 39.32 m long, to 26.36 m on the N and 26.82 m on the S side. The N
wall was restored and domestic buildings added to the S. The S wall of nave is
no longer standing, apart from a partially rebuilt late medieval doorway at W
end.
Church
The church is rectangular in plan, 23.5 m x 8 m (Madden), with an internal division separating E and W parts. The W part is earlier, with a lower pitched roof and built of large uncoursed masonry blocks in the lower walls with smaller stones above. There are antae at the W end and a lintelled W door with inclined jambs. The E end is 12thc., of coursed ashlar, with angle shafts flanking the E facade, a chamfered plinth on the N side and a flat-topped plinth on E and S sides. Romanesque sculpture is found on the capitals of the angle shafts at the E end, four windows and a niche in the E section of the church, heads set in the interior S chancel wall and in the exterior E wall, and on a number of loose fragments. There is a plain font of uncertain date.