Rincrew
Religious House, Co. Waterford
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Overlooking Youghal Harbour is a high
promontory lying between the River Blackwater on the east and the River Tourig
on the west called Rincrew. At the southern end of this high ground, with fine
views of Youghal harbour and the sea beyond, is a mysterious ruin that has had
historians in knots for centuries.
Location map for Rincrew, Templemichael and Molana on an island in the River Blackwater
The ruin consists of a long east-west
building with at least four high and broad windows, two on the south side and
two on the north side. A single window is on the east gable while the western
end of the building is totally robbed of stones and is unrecognisable with the
extensive plant growth. Historians have named this building a church because of
its east-west orientation.
Plan of the site as drawn by Rev. Canon Patrick Power
Joining the church building at the
north-east corner is a range of buildings aligned north-south divided into two
ground floor chambers. The nearest chamber to the church is a two story
structure with two doorways on its west wall and three window openings on its
east wall. Further windows on the west wall can be seen through the foliage on
the first floor with the suggestion of a chimney on the first floor. Over the
ground floor is a vaulted ceiling aligned north-south.
The vaulted passage looking north towards the small chamber beyond the tree
This north-south chamber, called the
refectory by historians, is 41 feet long by 17 feet 11 inches wide. At the
northern end of the refectory is another chamber 30 feet 4 inches long by 13
feet 4 inches wide. This chamber comes off the refectory at one side. Because
the second chamber is narrower than the refectory it allows a window in the
refectory on the eastern end of its northern wall. This window is partially
blocked by the vaulted ceiling of the refectory which suggests that the vault
is a later addition. The sides of the vault are also not attached to the east
and west walls of the refectory. Rather the vault fits in between the two walls
which again points to a later insertion.
The junction of the vault with the previous vertical wall
The vault is similar in ways to the
vaulted passage at the Augustinian Priory at Bridgetown, County Cork. In 1541
Molana Abbey held 50 acres in Rincrew. It is possible that when the mysterious
religious community left Rincrew that Molana took over the site. Taking
inspiration from the vaulted passage at Bridgetown the people at Rincrew
inserted a vaulted passage into the existing building.
Covered passageway at Bridgetown priory.
The protected passage
could then be used for lighting candles to be used in a procession into the
church through a door at the southern end of the vaulted passage. This door is
seen in the drawing by Grose but the door and its surrounding wall have since
fallen down.[1]
Drawing of Rincrew by Daniel Grose c.1800 looking from the south-east
The rest of the site is difficult to
establish as much of the stone work is gone and the site is heavily overgrown.
A platform of stones in the south-east corner may be from the collapsed south
wall of the refectory. These stones could also be from a collapsed crossing
tower and that the modern east wall of the church may only be the east wall of
the nave. Much in the way of archaeological work is needed to help decipher out
the site.
At various places in the stone work and
aligned in various directions are at least seven straight through plug holes. These
helped secure the scaffold for the construction of the high walls of the site. Later
wooden beams through the plug holes could help support the roof of a cloister
or some other structure. The plug holes suggest there were more buildings on
the site than the two ranges that can be seen today.
The history of the ruin is just as mysterious
as the stone work. Confusion abounds when attempting to research the history of
Rincrew since the Knights Hospitaller and the Knights Templar are both credited
with early ownership. One renowned authority who wrote four times on the place,
twice credited the Hospitallers as owners and twice credited the rival Templars
with ownership. To add more drama Raymond “le Gros” Fitzwilliam Fitzgerald is
credited with founding Rincrew after seeing the strategic value of the site
during the battle of Youghal Harbour in 1173. Later legend says that Raymond
died at Rincrew and that he was taken up the River Blackwater to the
Augustinian abbey of Molana. We have no evidence beyond folklore to
substantiate this claim.[2]
Even this story of Rincrew is slightly questionable.
The Normans raided Lismore in 1173 because they were short of supplies and
money for their troops. Some of the booty was taken to Waterford by the coast
route while more was loaded onto 13 ships at the harbour of Lismore. While
waiting there for an east wind, a fleet of 32 ships arrived from Cork led by
the Ostmen of that town. A naval battle ensued around the present Youghal
Harbour. The Normans won but only after a struggle. Raymond “le Gros” heard of
the battle and came from Waterford by the coast route and made for Lismore
where he did battle with McCarthy, Prince of Desmond.
The story as related by Giraldus Cambrensis
says clearly that Raymond was not at Youghal Harbour during the battle and that
when he later came along the coast route he may not even have gone that far
west if he was heading for Lismore. He could have taken the coast road from
Waterford to Dungarvan and then turned inland, up the present road to Cappoquin
and onto Lismore. The leader of the Normans during the battle of 1173 was Adam
de Hereford.[3]
Niall Byrne, who made an extensive study
of the military orders in the south-east of Ireland, followed the claim of
Canon Patrick Power that Rincrew was a Preceptory house of the Knights Hospitallers,
and a daughter house of Mourne Abbey near Mallow, County Cork.[4]
Yet Charles McNeill, who edited the Register of Kilmainham which gives
details of Hospitaller property in the fourteenth century, said there are no
documents to say that Rhincrew ever belonged to the Hospitallers.[5]
An extensive survey of Knight Hospitaller properties in Ireland was made in 1212
and there is no mention of Rincrew.[6]
But the Hospitaller rivals, the Knights
Templar also have documents with no mention of Rincrew. In 1308 the Knights
Templars in Ireland were arrested and their property seized. Yet no mention is
made in the extensive documents on Templar property about Rincrew. It is
possible that the survey for “Templar” Rincrew was lost. But we have a backup
file to answer that suggestion. A papal bull in May 1312 ordered that all
Templar property should be transferred to the Knights Hospitallers yet still no
Rincrew mentioned.[7]
The records of the Knights Hospitaller in Ireland are available for the years
1320-1360 but they make no mention of Rincrew.
Thus we had four opportunities (1212,
1308, 1312 and 1320-1360) for Rincrew to be mentioned in medieval documents but
no mention in any. Many medieval documents are lost but if Rincrew was, at a
substantial period in its life, a religious house of the Knights Templar or the
Knights Hospitaller then it should have shown up in some record. No such record
survives.
The present ruins at Rincrew show two
major phrases of construction so whoever had Rincrew was wealthy or came into
money at two different times. It could also show the building activities of two
different owners. Further research may solve this observation.
The final big survey of monastic property
in medieval Ireland took place as part of the Reformation of Henry VIII. Once
again Rincrew is absent from the documents. It does not feature in the extent
of monastic possessions in 1539-40 and the building is likely to have been in
ruins by then. At that time nearby Molana Abbey held 50 acres at Rincrew plus
the tithes of the parish.[8]
The secular owners of nearby Templemichael
were the Fitzgerald family of Dromana. Templemichael became the latter name for
the parish of Rincrew. Sometime before 1420 the third Earl of Ormond granted
half the lordship of Inchiquin to his niece and unofficial spouse, Katherine of
Desmond. About the same time Katherine also acquired the manor of Rhincrew. In
1443 she granted Rincrew to her nephew, Gerald Fitz James, afterwards lord of
the Decies.[9]
The Fitzgerald family held Templemichael until 1750 when they sold it to
Richard Dawson of Dublin.
Yet some religious establishment was at
Rincrew. For much of the medieval period Rincrew gave its name to the
surrounding parish which only later took the name of Templemichael.[10]
The east-west chamber is very church-like in its appearance to suggest strongly
the existence of a religious house.
There is a possible candidate for the
mystery religious community in a document from 1223. It says “Mandate to the
Archbishop of Dublin, justiciary of Ireland, that if it appears by inquisition
that King John was not seized of the fee of Uhachath, in the port of Lismore,
when he committed the custody of the country of Desmond to Thomas Fitz Anthony,
and that Thomas disseized the Abbot and monks of Tewkesbury thereof, after he
had undertaken the custody, that then the justiciary cause the Abbot and monks
to have seisin of the fee”.[11]
Some people have suggested that this place
called Uhachath is near Dungarvan but the overall direction of the document
points to the Blackwater valley as a location. Uhachath is in the port of
Lismore and that port can only be the River Blackwater between Lismore and
Youghal. In that big stretch of river we can narrow down the search to that
part in the county of Desmond. Most of the land on both sides of the Blackwater
between Lismore and Youghal is in County Waterford but in medieval times the
county boundary was different to today.
In medieval times that part of land south
of the River Bride and east of the River Blackwater which today makes up the
parishes of Tallow, Kilwatermoy, Kilkockin and Templemichael was in County
Cork. Another name for County Cork was the County of Desmond. Therefore this
place called Uhachath has to be on the River Blackwater and somewhere in the
four parishes thus named. The port of Lismore location would suggest that
Uhachath has to be in the parishes of Kilkockin or Templemichael as these
border the River Blackwater. Could Uhachath be an old name for Rincrew?
Tewkesbury Abbey is therefore a good
candidate for the mystery religious community at Rincrew as it had property in
the area and at a time contemporary with the architecture of Rincrew.
In the valuation of parishes held about
1302 Rincrew was valued at £2 16 shillings 8 pence which is only just above the
near baseline value of £2 for a standard parish. The Island parish, as
Kilkockin was known as, was valued at £5 13s 4d as it included the abbey of
Molana and so had a higher valuation.[12]
This information would suggest that the mystery religious community had left Rincrew
by 1302 or had significantly reduced their activities there.
The view from Rincrew over Youghal Harbour and the open sea beyond
Further research is needed, possibly in
Tewkesbury, to try to solve the mystery. An archaeological dig on the site
could help establish dating evidence to try to better pin down a time frame.
For the present Rincrew still guards its secret just as it guarded the mouth of
the River Blackwater in medieval times. Much done, a lot more to do.
[1]
Daniel Grose, The Antiquities of Ireland,
edited by Roger Stalley (Irish Architectural Archive, Dublin, 1991), p. 54
[2]
Niall Byrne, The Irish Crusade: A History
of the Knights Hospitaller, the Knights Templar and the Knights of Malta in the
South-East of Ireland (Linden, Dublin, 2007), pp. 120-1
[3]
Giraldus Cambrensis, Expugnatio
Hibernica: The conquest of Ireland, edited by A.B. Scott & F.X. Martin
(Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 1978), p. 137
[4]
Niall Byrne, The Irish Crusade, p.
121
[5]
Charles McNeill (ed.), Registrum de
Kilmainham (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1932), p. vii
[6]
Charles McNeill (ed.), Registrum de
Kilmainham (Stationery Office, Dublin, 1932), pp. 139-41
[7]
Niall Byrne, The Irish Crusade, pp.
204-7, 210
[8]
Tom Nolan, ‘Listings of monastic possessions in Waterford c.1540, in Decies, No. 26, p. 48
[9]
Kenneth Nicholls, ‘The development of Lordship in County Cork, 1300-1600’, in
Patrick O’Flanagan & Cornelius G. Buttimer (ed.), Cork History and Society (Geography Publications, Dublin, 1993), p.
188, 209, note 228
[10]
H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland (Kraus reprint, 1974), Vol. 5 (1302-1307), p.
306
[11]
H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 1 (1171-1251), no. 1147
[12]
H.S. Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 5 (1302-1307), pp. 305, 306
