Murrisk Friary is beautifully situated beneath Croagh Patrick, on the southern shores of Clew Bay in Co. Mayo. Today the Friary stands in ruin and a modern graveyard has developed around it. The Friary is thought to have been founded in 1456 and was handed over to the Augustinian Friars. According to historical sources, Hugh O’ Malley (a Sligo friar) built a monastery on land granted to him by the powerful O’Malley family. The O’ Malleys were important land owners in this part of Mayo, and the famous Pirate Queen Gráinne Mhaol (Grace O'Malley) was one of their more illustrious descendants.

It is thought that the lands were leased in 1578, during the reign of Elizabeth I, to James Garvey. We do not know if the monks remained at Murrisk after this time, however, it is likely that they retained a presence at the friary. A foundation like Murrisk, which, was in an isolated location, away from the eyes of government, may well have escaped the full effects of the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the Reformation. 

The Friary also appears in a poem by a Fr. William Bourke in 1730 which describes “lovely Murrisk, so tranquil and mild …” 
[see the bottom of this article for the full poem].

The East Window

Murrisk next appears when the Archbishop of Tuam notes that there was one Friar living in Murrisk in 1801. It seems that the site was abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century and is today maintained by the Office of Public Works.

The main part of the visible remains today appear to date to the fifteenth century. You can see the remains of the church, with some domestic buildings to the north giving the site a distinctive 'L' shape. One of the notable features of the site is the east window, beautifully sculpted in the flamboyant Irish Gothic style. 

The crenellations or battlements, crowning the building are thought to be of a later date. There are carved faces on the southern and eastern walls of the friary. It is unknown who these faces represent, but it was quite common in the medieval period to display depictions of wealthy patrons of the church on the walls of the building. The domestic buildings of the monastery would have been situated around the simple church at right angles to it. The remains of the sacristy and the chapter house are all that survives of these buildings today. The chapter house was one of the most important structures in the Friary as it was the place where the monks met to discuss the day to day running of the abbey and where the Rules of the Order were read to the community of monks working, living and praying in the Friary. There are no above ground traces of other domestic buildings associated with medieval religious houses such as the Refectory (kitchen) or the Dormitories where the monks would have slept. 

Early medieval shrines like Shrine of St. Patrick's Tooth and the Black Bell of St. Patrick may have been stored and venerated at the friary at Murrisk as it is a stopping point on the pilgrimage up the holy mountain. Indeed Murrisk Friary itself was dedicated to St. Patrick shortly after its foundation. The Viscount Mayo Chalice is also associated with Murrisk as the inscription incised into the 17th century chalice reads: “Pray for the souls of Theobald, Lord Viscount Mayo, and his wife, Maud O’ Connor, who caused me to be made for the monastery of Murrisk, 1635” It is thought that this chalice continued to be used until the 18th century. 

The site at Murrisk is a very interesting example of a later medieval religious house. The site is made even more spectacular by its incredible setting at the foot of Croagh Patrick – the Holy Mountain of Ireland – and on the shores of Clew Bay. It is well worth a visit if you are over in the west. To get to Murrisk, make your way west from Westport towards Lecanvey and Louisburgh. The site is located down a narrow lane to the right of the main road, on the opposite side of the car park for Croagh Patrick, close to The National Famine Monument. 


The Friar’s Farewell to Murrisk,
Fr. William Bourke, 1730.

Farewell to you lovely Murrisk,
So tranquil and mild,
And to the fine lordly mountains,
That rise up on all sides,
As I walked on the strand there,
The curlew’s refrain,
Was sweeter than all the music,
On this side of the plain.

I promised to obey,
The friars placed over me,
And to submit my desires,
To those of the community,
This is what has left me,
Condemned here to long craving,
For I would never have left Murrisk,
And its beautiful havens.

If I can hold out,
Until the cuckoo’s call beguiles,
I will then go to Murrisk,
And rest there a while.
The folk here are not,
The pleasant wise company I knew,
But are like idols of oak,
With an axe rough hewn.

From: The Story of Mayo. 2003. Mayo County Council. 

 Moore Hall is located in a beautiful spot on the shore of Lough Carra in Co. Mayo. The house was constructed between 1792 and 1796 by George Moore. He was a very successful wine merchant and entrepreneur, his main business was based in Alicante in Spain where he traded in wine and brandy. He was also involved in the export of seaweed from Galway as it was used to make iodine. Unusually at that time for such a wealthy and powerful man, George Moore was a Roman Catholic. His family originally came from Ashbrook near Straide in Co. Mayo, but George wanted a house to reflect his vast fortune so he commissioned the architect John Roberts, to construct a house suitable for a man of his means. 

Legend has it that George was warned by the locals not to construct his new house at the site on the shore of Lough Carra. Way back in the 5th century AD, the King of Connacht was said to have been murdered by his enemies, the kings’ druid fled after the murder, fearing for his own life, but was hunted down and he himself was murdered close to where Moore Hall stands today. The ill luck of the druid and King were said to linger in the area and infect the lives of those who chose to live there.

George Moore lived at the Moore Hall from the time of its construction until his death in 1799. Bad luck did befall him and his family when his son John took part in the ill fated 1798 Rebellion. John was even declared the ‘President of the Connaught Republic’ before he was arrested and sentenced to transportation. John died in Waterford, en-route and a month later his father died. John’s body was exhumed in 1961 and transferred from Waterford to The Mall, Castlebar where he was reburied with full military honours.  

George Henry Moore (who was landlord of the large estate) was renowned for his kindness during the Great Famine. He was a keen horse racing enthusiast, and during the height of the Famine in 1846 he entered his horse Coranna in the Chester Gold Cup and won the huge sum at the time of £17,000. He used that money to give every one of his tenants a cow. He also imported thousands of tonnes of grain to feed the locality. Not one person was evicted or starved on George Moore's estates during the Famine. George was also a politician and an MP for County Mayo. He, along with some other family members, are buried at Kiltoom, which is a small family graveyard about 30 metres from the modern day carpark at Moore Hall.

George Henry’s son was the famous writer George Augustus Moore. He played a pivotal role in the Irish literary revival and was one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre and the Gaelic League.
 
The last of the Moores to live at this great house was Maurice Moore. He fought with the Connaught Rangers in the Boer War and became deeply involved with human rights issues. One of the key issues he petitioned for was the return of Irish prisoners serving sentences in English jails following the War of Independence. Moore was elected envoy to South Africa by the first Dàil and served as a Senator under Cosgrave and de Valera. Despite his tireless work for Irish independence, Moore Hall was burned down by anti-treaty forces during the Irish Civil War in January 1923.
 
Today Moore Hall is owned by the forestry company Coillte and is a wonderful and atmospheric spot to enjoy a walk and a picnic. Moore Hall is located around 11km north of Ballinrobe. Leaving Ballinrobe, take the L1067, this will take you to Ballygarris cross.  Turn left at this point and you will be on the road for Carnacon. Follow the road to the right, and after crossing Annie’s bridge, take the next left turn at Lough Carra lake.  This will take you to the car park at Moorehall. There is a marked trail through the woods which is approximately 3kms long.

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Moyne Abbey was founded in 1460 by the powerful de Burgo family, on the orders of Mac William de Burgo. He had originally chosen to found a monastery near his home in Rappa near Crossmolina, however when he was out inspecting the planned location for the monastic site a dove flew low overhead. Mac William followed the dove which flew to the low lying site of Moyne, on the estuary that leads out to Killala Bay. Mac William took this to be an omen, as Moyne had once been the site of a great battle and chose this site to donate to the Franciscans to construct their friary.

 Moyne Abbey flourished and became a college or novitiate, a place where those aspiring to become friars could learn the order and way of life. It is thought that the community living at Moyne usually numbered over fifty lay monks, professors and friars. However, the peace and tranquillity was not to last.
 
In 1590, the Friary was burned by the notorious Sir Richard Bingham, the English Governor of Connacht appointed by Queen Elizabeth Ist. There are a number of tales about Bingham and his cruelty and excesses, he hated the powerful Burke (the ancestors of de Burgo) family and was envious of their vast estates. He began a campaign to destroy the Burkes and to claim their lands for the Queen for plantation. One story has it that he was enraged when a beautiful young woman named Mary Burke refused his advances, in retaliation he ordered that all the women bearing the name in the locality be hanged. Thirteen women were executed. Their bodies were thrown into a communal grave adjacent to the castle in an area known as ‘Poll na Marbh’ or ‘The Hollow of the Dead’, which is located within the grounds of the Ballinrobe Golf Club. 

 Bingham continued his relentless campaign in the region, but despite persecutions by Bingham and the burning in 1590, Moyne Abbey survived, and Friars continued to live, worship and work at Moyne. A historical account of 1606 tells of a Mr. Mooney visiting Moyne, where he encountered a widow who owned the friary and the lands surrounding it, however, she had let the church and some cells to a group of friars, whose rent was paid by a member of the de Burgo clan. Another story tells of a family that blew the roof off the friary with gunpowder and sold the bell of the friary for £700, an enormous sum in those days. It is possible that friars continued to reside in the friary until the end of the 18th century, when the friary began to fall into ruin. Today the remains are still incredibly well preserved and a fantastically atmospheric place to visit. 

In the cloisters

The majority of buildings are still standing at the site and the cloister walk where the monks would have walked in silent contemplation and prayer are amongst the finest surviving anywhere in Ireland. The well preserved aisled church stands on the southern side of the cloister. To the north of the cloister are the kitchen and refectory where a monk would have read out prayers while the friars were eating. On the eastern side of the cloister is the sacristy and chapter house where the friars would have met to discuss the day to day running of the community and important issues would have been discussed. Above the chapter house were the dormitories. Buildings that are in a very ruinous condition at the site include the mill, which still has water from a millrace flowing to it and the infirmary, which is where the sick would have been treated.

The remains of the mill

Moyne Abbey is a fantastic example of a medieval monastic site and is located in a wonderfully picturesque location. To get to the Friary, take the R314 from Ballina towards Killala. The site is off a minor road close to Killala on the right and is signposted. There is very limited parking at the site. Access to the site is through some private land so please close all gates behind you. 

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The exceptionally well-preserved mid-15th century friary of Rosserk is beautifully positioned on an estuary of the River Moy. It was founded in around 1441 for the Third Order of Franciscans. These were married men and women who wanted to lead a life according to the ideals of St Francis, but because of their married status, they were unable to join the First Order of Franciscans (friars) or the Second Order (nuns).

There are suggestions that the site takes its name from ‘Ros Searc’, or ‘Searc’s Wood’. Searc appears to have been a little known female saint, who is said to have founded an early monastery on the site, though no early remains have yet been identified.

Most of the buildings you can explore today date to the 15th century, and include the church with a slender bell tower; and a small cloister along with a number of other buildings, some domestic, to the north. Upstairs in the buildings you can find dormitories, a kitchen and a refectory.

Rosserk contains some fascinating examples of medieval craftsmanship, including the eastern window with its delicate and elaborate stone tracery, and the piscina where the holy vessels were washed during the mass. The piscina is a wonderful example, and has a sculpture of a pair of angels in the top right hand corner, and a unique carving of a round tower on one of the jambs.

This may represent the round tower at nearby Killala – a site that would have been in ruins for centuries before the construction of the friary at Rosserk – potentially showing an intriguing suggestion of regard of ancient monuments by the medieval sculptor.

Rosserk was burned in 1590 by Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connacht. Bingham appears to have been a formidable and ruthless military leader, infamously stating that ‘…the Irish were never tamed with words but with swords’. He attempted to destroy the power of the MacWilliam Burkes of Co Mayo in a relentless and bloody campaign.

It was also Bingham who ordered that any Spanish survivors of the Armada who landed in Connacht should be brought to Galway and put to death there, leading to an estimated 1,000 executions. His brutal and punitive rule led to a number of insurrections and uprisings, and he came into constant conflict with the famous ‘Pirate Queen’ Gráinne Mhaol. Rosserk was possibly burned as part of reprisal measures to forcefully subdue the Burkes.

However today Rosserk is a peaceful and tranquil spot, and along with a visit to nearby Moyne Abbey (just 4km to the north), it really does make for a great day out. Rosserk is free to enter all year round. You’ll find it approximately 7km north of Ballina signposted off the R314, at co-ordinates: 54.171255, -9.143696.

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