Survey Data
Reg No
31308918
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Monastery
Date
1835 - 1845
Coordinates
116482, 283586
Date Recorded
23/11/2010
Date Updated
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Description
Detached nine-bay two-storey monastery, begun 1840; dated 1840; opened 1842, on an E-shaped plan with single-bay (six-bay deep) full-height gabled advanced end bays; single-bay (single-bay deep) full-height central return (west). Occupied, 1901; 1911. Closed, 1975. Vacated, 1981. Now disused. Replacement pitched slate roof on an E-shaped plan, clay ridge tiles with lichen-covered Cross finials to apexes, rendered chimney stacks having stepped capping supporting terracotta pots, and uPVC rainwater goods on cut-limestone eaves. Replacement cement rendered walls with rusticated rendered piers to corners; limewashed lime rendered surface finish to rear (west) elevation. Pointed segmental-headed central door opening below inscribed cut-limestone "lunette" date stone ("1840") with two concrete steps, and drag edged tooled cut-limestone block-and-start surround centred on inscribed drag edged tooled cut-limestone date stone keystone ("1840") framing timber panelled door having fanlight. Lancet flanking window openings with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, and concealed dressings framing timber casement windows. Square-headed window openings in bipartite arrangement with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing four-over-four timber sash windows having part exposed sash boxes. Square-headed window openings in tripartite arrangement (end bays) with drag edged dragged cut-limestone sills, timber mullions, and concealed dressings framing four-over-four timber sash windows having part exposed sash boxes. Interior including (ground floor): central hall retaining carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors; and carved timber surrounds to door openings to remainder framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber panelled shutters; and (first floor) carved timber surrounds to door openings framing timber panelled doors with carved timber surrounds to window openings framing timber boarded reveals. Set in landscaped grounds.
Appraisal
A monastery erected on a site donated by James Hardiman (1782-1855) of Galway (Bengal Catholic Expositor 1840 III, 330) representing an important component of the mid nineteenth-century built heritage of County Mayo with the architectural value of the composition, one established 'for the dissemination of a sound religious instruction among poor children' (Catholic Directory 1843, 317), confirmed by such attributes as the symmetrical footprint centred on a mildly eccentric doorcase not only demonstrating good quality workmanship in a blue-grey limestone, but also showing a pretty "bat wing" fanlight; and the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated tiered visual effect with those openings showing elegant multipartite glazing patterns. Having been reasonably well maintained, the form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of the composition. Furthermore, an adjoining chapel (see 31308919); a burial ground (1847); and outbuildings presently (2011) undergoing reconstruction, all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble making a pleasing visual statement in a rural street scene. NOTE: A "lunette" date stone (1840) records that 'under the especial patronage of His Grace the Most Illustrious Lord John Mac Hale Archbishop of Tuam The first stone of this Monastery was laid by James Hardiman Esqr on the 21st day OF JULY 1840'. The official opening ceremony was given the following coverage in "The Bengal Catholic Expositor" (1843): "On Sunday 19th [March] the ceremony of the profession of two and the reception of seven religious brothers took place at the monastery of Errew in County Galway [sic]. His Grace the Most Reverend Dr. McHale...invested the postulants with the habit of the Order of Saint Francis... His Grace then blessed the people, who had thronged every approach to the monastery, and passed a well-deserved and feeling eulogy on the historian of Galway and author of "The Irish Minstrelsy", James Hardiman, Esquire, who, by his bountiful bequest of a site, and ten acres of best ground, besides his fostering patronage, has contributed to the revival of the monastic order in Mayo – a precedent well deserving to be followed by the larger Roman Catholic proprietors of the Island. The Archbishop, Mr. Hardiman, and clergy, were entertained at dinner by the good Superior of the monastery [Brother Hugh Bernard Garry (d. 1865)]" (The Bengal Catholic Herald 1843 V, 14).