tadhg o'keeffe. st thomas’ abbey and the chronology of early english gothic in ireland

St Thomas’s Abbey and the chronology of Early English Gothic in Ireland

Prof. Tadhg O’KeeffeSchool of Archaeology, UCD

What I will do today:


1. Early English Gothic and Ireland



2. Newtown Trim Cathedral and its architecture



2. Newtown Trim Cathedral and its architecture

3. What did St Thomas’s Abbey look like?

Part 1 Early English Gothic and Ireland

York Minster, 1984

1

Canterbury CathedralYork Minster, 1984

1

Canterbury Cathedral choir, by William of Sens, post-1174

1

Salisbury Cathedral, 1220+

Byland Abbey, post-1177

1

Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin

1

A timeline of Early English Gothic in England and Ireland

1

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

1

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Grey, 1193

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Inch, c. 1200Grey, 1193

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Inch, c. 1200Grey, 1193

Duiske, c. 1205

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Inch, c. 1200Duiske, 1204 +

Fethard, 1305+Grey, 1193

Duiske, c. 1205

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300



Duiske, c. 1205

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

Problems of chronology, 1190-1210:

• Few exact foundation/consecration dates• Cannot be sure that foundation = construction• Missing buildings (St Mary’s; Tristernagh…)• Our study of forms/motifs has not been detailed enough

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300



Duiske, c. 1205

NEWTOWN TRIM, c. 1205

Westminster

1Canterbury Wells

Why the study of Early English Gothic in Ireland is important for historians

1


• It is the aesthetic fingerprint of English lordship

New Ross parish church, c. 1205+ Buttevant Friary, c. 1250+

1


• It is the aesthetic fingerprint of English lordship• It can be used to map the progression and stabilisation of English culture

Rathfran Friary. 1274+

Ballyboggan Priory, 1200+

1


• It is the aesthetic fingerprint of English lordship• It can be used to map the progression and stabilisation of English culture• It can inform us about identity-formation in the aftrernath of the invasion

Cong Abbey, 1203+ Athenry Friary, 1241+

1

Part 2 Newtown Trim Cathedral and its architecture

A potted history

2

A potted history

• 1192 Simon de Rochford appointed - elected? - Bishop of Meath (Clonard)• The convent of St John’s Priory, Clonard (fd 1183), assumes the role of chapter

2

A potted history


• 1200 Clonard ‘burned’ by the Irish

2

A potted history



• 1202 Bishop Simon moves the diocesan centre to Nova Midia, now Newtown Trim• Canons join from St John’s Priory, Clonard, and St Thomas’s Abbey, Dublin

2

A potted history




• 1216 Bishop Simon convenes a synod at Newtown Trim

2

A potted history





• 1223 Hugh II de Lacy arrives back in Ireland from France, precipitating war

2

A potted history






• 1224 Bishop Simon dies• Without de Lacy support, the project is abandoned, the cathedral unfinished

2

A potted history







• 1255 Pope Alexander IV records that Meath has no cathedral

2

A potted history







• 1255 Pope Alexander IV records that Meath has no cathedral

Rhiannon Carey Bates & Tadhg O’Keeffe,‘Colonial monasticism, the politics of patronage,and the beginnings of Gothic in Ireland’,Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies 6 (2017)

2

The plan2

The presbytery2

The nave2

The nave2

Clerestorey window and string course are contemporary

The nave2

The vault support is an insertion

The nave2

The moulding profile in the vault-rib clusteris western English in origin(probably via Bristol)

What did Newtown Trim look like in 1223?2


Cross-section of the cathedral church looking south

East end West end

Explanations for aspects of this reconstruction are available upon request!


Although unaisled, the elevation has three registers, imitating the conventional scheme in a large aisled church, but:

(a) all the registers here of equal height(b) The triforium is a row of windows



Wall passages through the nave,but not for liturgical circulation



East end West end

Presbytery/choir vaults original… probably



East end West end

Nave vaults insertedbut the string-courses giving horizontal articulation

are original


What did Newtown Trim look like in 1223?


2

A small window west of the presbytery vaults



2

Pulpitum



2

Choir stallsran across crossing arches

Where did this architecture come from?2

Where did this architecture come from?

St Thomas’s Abbey

2


St Thomas’s Abbey

The 1177 priory church must have been Romanesque

2


St Thomas’s Abbey

The 1177 priory church must have been Romanesque

therefore

The 1192 abbey church must have been a Gothic rebuild, at least in part

Tadhg O’Keeffe,‘A cryptic puzzle from medieval Dublin’,Archaeology Ireland 31, 2 (2017), 39-43.

2

Part 3 What did St Thomas’s Abbey look like?

3

1177 – Romanesque church

3


1192– Gothic enlargement, with vaulting, imitated in part at Newtown Trim after 1202, and then more extensively for the synod in 1216?

= = =

= = =

3


1192– Gothic enlargement, with vaulting, imitated in part at Newtown Trim after 1202, and then more extensively for the synod in 1216?

= = =

= = =

= = =

= = =

1230 + – Gothic enlargement, in preparation for the translation of relics?

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Inch, c. 1200+ Fethard, 1305+Grey, 1193

Duiske, c. 1205

NEWTOWN TRIM, c. 1205

Westminster

3Canterbury Wells

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

3

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

Canterbury

3

1160 1180 1200 1220 1240 1260 1280 1300

ST. THOMAS’S ABBEY, 1192

Canterbury

3

A final word…. was St Thomas’s influential?


‘Overall, Canterbury was to prove more important for its general effectthan for its particular combination of architectural features’

(Peter Draper 2006, 33)


‘Overall, St Thomas’s was to prove more important for its general effectthan for its particular combination of architectural features’

tadhg o'keeffe. st thomas’ abbey and the chronology of early english gothic in ireland

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