Restoration work finishes on historic site in Offaly

IMPORTANT restoration work has recently been completed on the historic St Brendan's Church site in Birr, which is a big step forward towards the ultimate aim of one day opening this very significant location to the general public.

The work was directed by Dr Denis Shine of the Irish Heritage School (IHS) on behalf of Birr 20|20 Vision and Offaly County Council.

“Archaeological monitoring,” Dr Shine told The Midland Tribune, “conducted under licence to the National Monuments Service, was undertaken intermittently over a period of three weeks, commencing in late October.”

The project was undertaken with funding from the Heritage Council, after Birr 20|20 successfully applied to the Heritage Council Community Heritage Grant Scheme for funding to undertake conservation works on the mausoleum in the site's graveyard. This application was accompanied by a detailed Archaeological Assessment (prepared by the IHS) and a Conservation Method Statement prepared by Chris Southgate and Associates Conservation Engineers. An archaeological licence was successfully applied for on September 11. Padraig McIntyre was then appointed as the conservation contractor and site works commenced on October 21.

Dr Shine pointed out that the Mausoleum was the most potentially dangerous structure in St Brendan's. Some of the flagstones on the roof were in danger of falling and these have now been restored and conserved, in keeping with the appearance of the structure.

Dr Shine added that he will apply for more funding to carry out more work next year, which will include dealing with loose stonework, vegetation removal, removing small trees from the tombs, and a general tidy-up.

St Brendan's is most probably the location for Birr's monastery, dating back to the sixth century, which was founded by one of the 12 Apostles of Ireland, Naomh Bréanainn. The site evolved in the twelfth or thirteenth century into the parochial church of the newly established parish of Birr (in the diocese of Killaloe).

The site was overlooked in the twelfth century by an Anglo-Norman earth and timber motte castle. This timber castle was replaced by an O’Carroll tower house in the fourteenth to fifteenth century, which was extended in the seventeenth century by the Parsons family, who acquired the O’Carroll estate of Birr Castle during the 1620 Plantation of Ely O’Carroll.

The Parsons family became patrons of St Brendan’s parish church in the seventeenth century. It was their family mausoleum which was the subject of the recent conservation programme. It lies attached to the eastern end of the southern church wall. The Parsons also added the bell-tower or ‘Steeple’ to the western gable of the church during the first half of the seventeenth century.

After the 1620 Plantation of Ely O’Carroll, St Brendan’s church became a place of Protestant worship and remained the parish church for the Protestant congregation until the early nineteenth century when a new Church of Ireland church, also dedicated to St Brendan, was built in 1815 at the eastern end of Oxmantown Mall. ‘Old’ St Brendan’s was abandoned at this point, although the graveyard continued in intermittent use as a burial ground. The bell-tower partially collapsed in 1999, after which point Offaly County Council contracted Conservation Engineer Christopher Southgate to oversee the stabilisation of the remaining part of the tower.

“The remains of St Brendan’s are in varied condition,” said Denis, “with the mausoleum roof, prior to these works, in particularly poor condition. As a result of water ingress, under the thick Blue Bangor mausoleum roof flags, vegetation had obtained a strong hold within the mortar bed zone causing massive displacement of the roof flags and making the area surrounding the mausoleum unsafe. The conservation works to address this issue included:

“Treatment and removal of vegetation from the roof. Removal of embedded ivy from the mausoleum walls. Lifting and re-bedding of the flags, to include pinning/securing un-supported flags at risk of falling. Repointing of surviving face masonry with lime mortar, if required, after the removal of the vegetation.

“These works were undertaken to secure the surviving historic masonry of the mausoleum for the long-term, with the surviving remains in danger of further deterioration without intervention. No new features or artefacts were uncovered but the roof was clarified as likely dating from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries and has obviously also been subject to some more modern interventions.”