Baltinglass Abbey () is a ruined medieval Cistercian

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The con ...

Baltinglass Baltinglass, historically known as Baltinglas (), is a town in south-west County Wicklow, Ireland. It is located on the River Slaney near the border with County Carlow and County Kildare, on the N81 road. Etymology The town's Irish name, ''Be ...

, County Wicklow,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. Founded by

Diarmait Mac Murchada Diarmait Mac Murchada ( Modern Irish: Diarmaid Mac Murchadha), anglicised as Dermot MacMurrough, Dermod MacMurrough, or Dermot MacMorrogh (c. 1110 – c. 1 May 1171), was a King of Leinster in Ireland. In 1167, he was deposed by the High King ...

1148 Year 1148 ( MCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Second Crusade * January 1 – The French crusaders under King Louis VII defeat a Turkish a ...

, the abbey was suppressed in 1536. It is today a National Monument.

History

Founded in 1148 by

, the

King of Leinster The kings of Leinster ( ga, Rí Laighín), ruled from the establishment of Leinster during the Irish Iron Age, until the 17th century Early Modern Ireland. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasion ...

, Baltinglass Abbey sits beside the

River Slaney The River Slaney () is a large river in the southeast of Ireland. It rises on Lugnaquilla Mountain in the western Wicklow Mountains and flows west and then south through counties Wicklow, Carlow and Wexford for 117.5 km (73 mi), be ...

in a valley of the

Wicklow Mountains The Wicklow Mountains (, archaic: ''Cualu'') form the largest continuous upland area in the Republic of Ireland. They occupy the whole centre of County Wicklow and stretch outside its borders into the counties of Dublin, Wexford and Carlow. ...

. The original name ''Belach Conglais'' means "pass of Cú Glas," referring to a mythological hero that was killed by

wild boars The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species is n ...

. The abbey is roughly contemporary with

Ferns Abbey Ferns Abbey () is a ruined Augustinian abbey in Ferns, County Wexford, Ireland. Likely built on the site of an early Christian monastic site founded by Máedóc of Ferns, the standing remains were built by Diarmait Mac Murchada c.1160. The ab ...

, St Saviour's Priory, and possibly also

Killeshin Church Killeshin Church is a 12th-century Romanesque church and National Monument located in County Laois, Ireland. Location Killeshin Church is located near Killeshin village, on the south bank of the Fushoge River (a tributary of the Barrow), ab ...

. Baltinglass Abbey was established as a

daughter house A dependency, among monastic orders, denotes the relation of a monastic community with a newer community which it has founded elsewhere. The relationship is that of the founding abbey or conventual priory, termed the motherhouse, with a monaster ...

Mellifont Abbey Mellifont Abbey ( ga, An Mhainistir Mhór, literally 'the Big Monastery'), was a Cistercian abbey located close to Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland. It was the first abbey of the order to be built in Ireland. In 1152, it hosted the Synod of Ke ...

, a Cistercian abbey near Drogheda. Diarmait gave it the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

name ''Vallis Salutis'', meaning "Valley of

Salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its ...

", and granted it eight parcels of land in the region as an endowment. The first stage of the building was completed by 1170, it became the mother house of

Jerpoint Abbey Jerpoint Abbey () is a ruined Cistercian abbey, founded in the second half of the 12th century in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located 2.5 km south west of Thomastown on the R448 regional road. There is a visitor centre with an exhib ...

in 1180 and in 1228 it is recorded that there were 36

monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

and 50

lay brother Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

s living at Baltinglass. The Abbey was occupied for nearly 400 years until it was shut down by the 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries and granted to

Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne (1595–1640) was an Anglo-Irish nobleman of the early seventeenth century. His short life was full of violence and disputes over the Dunboyne inheritance. His father was murdered when Edmond was a small chil ...

. A

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

church was built within the abbey itself in 1815, but it closed in 1883.

Architecture

The stonework at the abbey shows carved humans and animals and is a particular Cistercian form of

Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 11th century, this lat ...

. The decoration on the capitals is similar to that at its daughter house Jerpoint. The surviving church (56 m in length) and some of the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

date from the 12th century, consisting of the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, square presbytery with three-light window and a pair of

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s from which small chapels project. The south aisle of the church is joined to the

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

by a twelfth-century doorway. Part of the original

, to the south of the church, has been rebuilt. The church also has 13th and 15th-century additions. The east windows and tower were built in the nineteenth century. A glazed tile potentially depicting Saint George and the Dragon was unearthed at the abbey in 1941. At that point, it was the only tile ever found in Ireland with a human figure painted on it.

References

Sources

* * * {{refend Cistercian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Archaeological sites in County Wicklow National Monuments in County Wicklow 1148 establishments in Ireland

History

Architecture

See also

References

Sources