The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Mayo (pre-1974 traditional (Republic of Ireland))
Ruined church and round tower
The church is mainly 12thc./13thc. with some later medieval additions and incorporates a plain 12thc. S doorway. This has a chamfered label on the exterior and a tall rear arch on the interior. Three courses of the E jamb of a doorway survive in the N wall of the nave. A large, shaped block, possibly an arcuated lintel, has been reset in the S wall to the E of the S doorway. The incomplete round tower ( h. 15.85 m) has a plain, round-headed doorway about 2.00 m above ground level. There is later doorway with a flat lintel at the base of the tower. No sculpture.
Augustinian house, former
A mainly early 13thc. church, on the shores of Lough Mask, T-plan, now in ruins,
with nave, chancel and N and S chambers accessible from the chancel. (nave w.
6.4 m x l. 12.49 m; chancel w. 4.65 m x l. 6.02 m) The chambers were added after
the first building campaign. (S chamber w. 3.86 m x l. 5.03 m, N chamber w. 3.81
m x l. 5.03 m) . A further small chamber (w. 1.35 m) is attached to the W wall
of the S chamber and the S wall of the nave. There is a doorway in the N wall of
the nave, plain with inclined jambs and a massive lintel. There are also a
number of large ashlar blocks in the N wall of the nave, and two arcuated
lintels (reset in the exterior S wall of the nave and interior S wall of the N
transept). These and the doorway may provide evidence for an earlier structure.
13thc. sculpture survives on the chancel arch, on the double window on the
gabled E wall of the chancel, and on the L label stop of a window in the S wall
of the nave (only part of the masonry of the window survives). There is a plain
window, with arcuated lintel, on the E wall of the N transept, which also has a
gabled N wall.
Augustinian house, former
The church comprises a chancel (w. c.8.00 m ), mainly 13thc. and an aisleless 15thc.
nave. Of the original conventual buildings the sacristy, adjoining chamber and the W
wall of the E range survive. There is a sealed chamber on the far S of the E range
which is also 13thc. Part of the original 13thc. cloister arcading survives, but most
is a replacement of c.1860 from a restoration led by Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness. Most
other surviving features are 15thc. or later.The chancel has a number of surviving, plain 13thc. features including the rebuilt N
and S windows and the triple E window. There is also a round-headed 13thc. sedilia in
the S wall of the chancel. This has bulbous bases with a chamfered torus below
nook-shafts. Simple capitals support the arch, which has a filleted angle roll, front
and rear, with a pointed moulding on the soffit. The label has a raised, central
keeled roll on the angle, flanked by a smaller roll. There is an aumbry in the E end
of the S wall, of two chamfered orders.On the S side of the chancel is a plain round-headed (not ashlar) S doorway leading
into the sacristy. This has an open stone stairway (modern) leading to an upper
floor. The entrance to the upper chamber is round-headed of one chamfered order with
a chamfered label and there is a plain round-headed window in the upper S wall. The
upper parts of the building are restored. The sacristy has a S doorway leading to a chamber with a barrel-vaulted roof and a
plain round headed window, restored on the exterior. The exterior S doorway to this
chamber is round-headed with a chamfered, restored label with acanthus label stops.
The chamber abuts onto a smaller chamber on the W, which is only accesible via the
cloister.Romanesque sculpture is found on the reset N doorway, and on the doorways and windows
of the E range.
Augustinian house, former
On the shores of Lough Conn. The church and conventual buildings are mainly 13thc. The only Romanesque feature is a reused, round-headed window with an arcuated lintel and with a thick, continuous angle roll, set high in the N wall of the chancel. No sculpture.
Augustinian house, former
A large cruciform, aisleless early 13thc. church standing next to the abbey ruins (W
wall of nave to E wall of chancel 40.23m, w. across transepts 22.86 m). The rebuilt
chapter house and sacristy survive and are also early 13thc. while the remains of the
cloister and domestic buildings are mainly 15thc. The church has a vaulted chancel
with a chamber above and two barrel-vaulted chapels in each transept, the inner
round-headed and the outer pointed and rather taller. The sacristy adjoins the south
transept and abuts onto a small chamber, accessible from the cloister walk. The
chapter house is attached to the sacristy. A 17thc. chapel adjoins the chancel on the
S. The nave was rebuilt in 1270. Plain round-headed doorways are found in the N wall
of the N transept and N and S side of nave (all reconstructed in 1965-6). The plain
sacristy doorway and the doorway to the storeroom in the E cloister range are
original. This doorway is round-headed and of three plain chamfered orders, the first
order with a tympanum and the others continuous. There are plain round-headed windows
at clerestorey level (one on S two on N); one in the E wall of each transept chapel,
with a small rectangular window above; and two, one above the other, over the triple
window on the E face, the upper being rectangular. There are a number of narrow
round-headed windows to the chapter house, some reconstructed. Romanesque sculpture
is found on the corbels of the crossing, the chancel vaulting and E window, the W
door of the chapter house, a reset corbel and a mortar (used as a font).
Round tower
An incomplete round tower (h. 10.00 m) with a tall, narrow doorway near
the top with inclined jambs and a flat lintel. The lower two courses on the L
and the lower three courses on the R are carved with a shallow angle-roll
flanked by a fine roll. There is a later round-headed doorway just above ground
level. There is a window in the tower with an arcuated lintel, splayed on the
interior. No sculpture.
Church (ruin)
A small, ruined, two-cell (nave and chancel) church, located on the W shore of Ballymore Lough. The chancel has a narrow, deeply splayed, round-headed E window with an arcuated lintel. There are square recesses in N and S walls of the chancel. Large dressed stones survive on the SE and NE angles, and the lower courses of a W and a S doorway remain. Within the church are a number of fragments, most of which are set in concrete. Two of these bear sculpture
Church (ruin) and round tower
A small cruciform church, now mainly 17thc-18thc. with some earlier features including a Crucifixion plaque of 1625. The church comprises nave, shallow, apsidal chancel and N and S transepts. There is a round tower (h. 22.86 m) to the SW of the S transept, barely a few feet away. This is probably 12thc. and has a blocked round-headed doorway several metres above ground level and a later doorway, also blocked, at the base of the tower. There are two triangular-headed windows at the top of the tower, and some square-headed windows below. The only Romanesque sculpture is found on a loose fragment locked in the S transept.