Down Ireland

(now portion of the Cathedral) of Downpatrick; and Newtownards Priory. Grey Abbey, situated in the village of Grey Abbey, on Strangford Lough, Co. Down, the most picturesque of the ecclesiastical buildings remaining in the province, was founded in a.d. 1193 by Affreca, the wife of John de Courcy, and colonised by Cistercian monks from the Abbey of Holm Cultram in Cumberland. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its Irish name was Mainistir Liath the Grey Monastery ; in early records it is referred to a De Jugo Dei in Ultonia. The ruins consist of the church and conventual buildings. The church is cruciform in plan, and most of its walls are standing ; it consists of an aisleless nave, chancel, and transepts, with a square tower at the junction of the nave and chancel. The transepts have eastern chapels. The conventual buildings are on the south of the church : they are in a ruinous condition, but their foundations can easily be traced: they comprise the sacristy, chapter house, calefactory with the monks dorter above it, kitchen, refectory and buttery. The cloister garth is much damaged, but appears to have been oblong in plan. A number of mediaeval masons marks can be seen incised upon fragments of building stones and the walls of the building The architecture of the abbey appears to belong as a whole to the thirteenth century, but there arc some traces of Romanesque work. The convent was dissolved in a.d. 1541 when some of its possessions were granted to Gerald earl of Kildare. A curious leaden matrix of a seal of Ralph Irton bishop of Carlisle a.d. 1280-1291 was discovered in 1842 when clearing out the foundations of the ruins of Grey Abbey. The matrix is probably a contemporary forgery, as lead is an unusual material for the seal of a bishop. As an explanation of the presence of the matrix at Grey Abbey it may be stated that Grey Abbey was an affiliated cell of the Abbey of Holm Cultram in Cumberland in the diocese of Carlisle. A certain Ralph, who was first, Abbot of Grey Abbey, and afterwards, of Holm Cult- ram, subsequently became Bishop of Carlisle. An entry of a.d. 1222 refers to the promotion of Ralph to the Abbotship of Holm Cultram from Grey Abbey. If, there- fore, it be assumed that Ralph entered the monastery at a very early age and lived to be over ninety, it would account for the presence of his seal-matrix at Grey Abbey.

Newtownards priory was founded by Walter de Burgo earl of Ulster, in a.d. 1244, being dedicated to St Columba, and occupied by Friars Preachers (Domini- cans). It was a foundation of some importance, and provincial chapters of the Order were held in it in 1298 and 1312. At the dissolution of the monasteries it was surrendered to Henry VIII.s commissioners by the last prior, Patrick ODoran. The priory and its lands were granted by King James I. to James, Viscount Clandeboy, and were afterwards assigned to Hugh, Viscount Mont- gomery of the Ards. Nothing now remains of the conventual buildings but the church. This consists of a nave and north aisle with a tower, which projects from the centre of its external wall. There are some traces of a chancel. The nave is the only remaining portion of the church which dates from the foundation. The west and south walls are fairly preserved, and there is some interesting fifteenth-century work in the nave arcade. The tower, which is later than either the nave or aisles, belongs to the Jacobean period.

The only remaining portions of the Abbey church at Down (Hotels, Down, Ireland), are now embodied in the cathedral of Down-patrick. The Abbey was founded in 1186 by John de Courcy for Benedictine monks, and the modern cathedral, commenced in 1790, was grafted on to the remains of the eastern arm of the Abbey church. The remains of the Abbey to be noticed are some capitals in the nave arcades, and some mouldings in other portions of the building, which belong to the Gothic period; some fragments of Irish Romanesque work are also to be seen. The nave and transepts of the church, and the conventual buildings have disappeared, but their foundations are probably buried under the ground of the neighbouring fields and gardens. Inch Abbey was founded by John de Courcy in 1180 for Cistercian monks. The ruins are attractive, but not extensive; there is little left of the church except the chancel, the windows of which are in the style of the thirteenth century. The remains of the monastery of Saul, Co. Down (Accommodation, Down, Ireland), are scanty ; the site is, however, interesting as it commemorates by its position and name (Sabhall=a. barn), the place where Christianity was first preached in Ireland. When St Patrick landed near Downpatrick in a.d. 432 he preached to the lord of the soil, Dichu, and his people, in a barn. A church was later erected on the same site, and a monastery for Regular Canons was founded, which was restored in the twelfth century by Malachias O Morghair bishop of Down. The greater portion of the church has now disappeared, but there is a small cell in the churchyard said to be the tomb of Bishop O Morghair.

Dromore (the great ridge) is a bishopric of considerable antiquity, having been founded early in the sixth century. The ancient cathedral was destroyed in the rebellion of the seventeenth century : the present edifice was built by Jeremy Taylor, bishop of Down and Connor, who held this See in commendam. Jeremy Taylors building appears to have been a plain oblong church with a square, plain tower at the west end. It has been restored within recent years ; an apse has been added to the east end, and on the north side an aisle. The Cathedral of Kilmore (the great church) is quite modern, having been built about 1860. It is a small church of cruciform shape with a central tower sur mounted by a small spire. Lisburn Cathedral owes its origin to Charles II., who in 1662 constituted the parish church of Lisburn the cathedral church of Down and Conner; the cathedral churches of both these places being at that time in ruins. It is an uninteresting church planned as a parallelogram. Raphoe Cathedral is a cruciform church with a tall square western tower. It does not show any signs of age, but possibly contains some ancient portions built into the walls. Raphoe is a corruption of Raith-both, the fort of the huts.
The port of Ardglass, Co. Down (Holiday Cottages, Down, Ireland), was of much importance at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, and no less than seven castles were built there by de Courcy. But the remains of castles now to be seen in this locality are of considerably later date; the best preserved of these, formerly known as Jordans Castle, is situated near the Quay. It is supposed to be named after Jordan dc Saukvill. The castle was besieged for a long period during the Earl of Tyrones rebellion. The present remains consist of a lofty tower, 70 ft. in height, which is maintained in excellent order by its present owner, Mr. F. J. Bigger. The Savages of the Ards peninsula, Co. Down (Holiday Homes, Down, Ireland), were the great castle builders of this region, and ruins of some of their numerous strongholds still exist. At Portaferry there are the remains of what must have been a strong fortress. It consists at present of a rectangular keep, and belongs to the present representative of the Savage family, Major-General Nugent. Another ruin of interest is Kirkistone Castle, Bally- halbert, which was built by Roland Savage early in the seventeenth century. The keep, which is still perfect, is in the centre of a square enclosure, the southern wall of which is flanked by a circular tower at each corner. This Jordans Castle, now called Castle Shane, Ardglass, Co. Down (Bed and Breakfasts, Down, Ireland) building is remarkable as being one of the few castles in the Ards district in which the courtyard has been preserved. The remains of several castles may be seen in the neighbourhood of Strangford Lough, practically all are of Anglo-Norman origin; now they are, mostly in a ruinous condition.

The most interesting of these Anglo-Norman castles is that of Dundrum, Co. Down, which has recently been identified with the Castrum de Rath mentioned in records of the thirteenth century. It was erected by John de Courcy on a rocky elevation on the site of Dun Rudhraighe, an ancient Celtic fort, in which was held, according to tradition, the Fled Bricrend, the feast of Bricriu, which forms the subject of a well-known Middle-Irish tale. The tower of Dundrum is probably the most perfect example of a donjon in Ireland. It is a cylindrical shell of masonry, with an external diameter of 45 ft., the walls arc 8 ft. thick, and the tower measures 43 ft. in height. The basement chamber of he donjon is cut out of the rock. A moat quarried out of the solid rock partially surrounds the donjon. A portion of the original wall round the courtyard is still standing : on the southern slope of the hill are the ruins of an Elizabethan house. Plan of Dundrum Castle Dunluce Castle is a romantic ruin occupying the whole of a detached basaltic rock. There arc the remains of the entrance barbican and two towers : the residential buildings include the Great Hall, 70 ft. by 23 ft., and another large apartment with bedrooms over these. The castle was probably erected by the MacQuillans, who were in occupation when the MacDonnels came over from Scotland after their surrender of the lordship of the fslcs to James IV in 1476.