County Louth Archaeological and History Society

Léarscáiliocht Éireann Map of Monastic IrelandReview by: D. MacI.Journal of the County Louth Archaeological Society, Vol. 14, No. 2 (1958), p. 123Published by: County Louth Archaeological and History SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27728962 .

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REVIEWS I23

L?ARSC?ILIOCHT ?IREANN MAP OF MONASTIC IRELAND

Published by the Ordnance Survey, Phoenix Park, Dublin

The copy of this publication which the present reviewer has before him costs 75. 6d., but

cheaper editions can be had at 6s. 6d. and 5s., if one is prepared to dispense with binding, and with Introduction and Index. However, it is worth getting the complete work because the

Introduction provides a succinct and useful account of religious houses in Ireland up to c. 1600, when the Suppression became fully effective.

One sentence on page 7 draws an Ardee reader's attention: "

Besides these, certain other churches (such as Ardee, Howth and Naas) are referred to as collegiate, where three or more

secular chaplains or chantry priests lived in common near their church in a building which was

usually known as ' the college.'

" That some chantry chaplains of Ardee lived together in a

" college

" from the late fifteenth century onwards is certainly true. But the church itself con

tinued to be a simple parish church served by a vicar; nor was it ever, to the present writer's

knowledge, specifically styled collegiate. Incidentally, one wonders should chantries be included in a monastic map. They had no particular connection with the regular life, but formed a feature

apart which well merits study on its own, as the late Father Murray suggested in his article in this

Journal on "

The Ancient Chantries of County Louth "

(ix, 3). The Map is not offered as the ultimate survey of monasticism in Ireland, but rather, says

the foreword, "asa stimulus to scholars, and especially to those with accurate local knowledge, so that material for a more authoritative edition may accrue from the re-examination of monastic

topography." In the spirit of this invitation the following few suggestions are made for County Louth :

Templetown was, without any doubt, a Templar house, in which one brother was found

residing at the time the Crown seized the Order's property. This information is in a Reeves

manuscript in Trinity College Library (described as Irish Ancient Church Records, 1060), which itself is the transcript of an original in the Public Record Office in London. The document is an

inventory of all goods and chattels belonging to the Templars in Ireland, and an examination of it

should render superfluous the special symbol on the Map for "

Knights Templars, supposed establishments."

Knock on the Map seems to be about where Knock Abbey is, the residence of Lt.-Col. O'Reilly in the townland of Thomastown. But the name Knock Abbey here is not reliable. Joseph Dolan

made a careful study of this matter in County Louth Arch ological Journal, V, 3, and ended up in grave doubt whether there was ever an abbey in this place. What is certain is that the ancient

monastery of Cnoc na nApstal, or of Saints Peter and Paul, where O'Gorm?in composed his

Martyrology, is represented to-day by a lone ruined pinnacle in a field opposite the Abbey of

Saint Mary in Louth. Here, therefore, a symbol should be placed. Finally, the symbol for a convent of nuns, which is shown at Kellystown, if it is to be retained

at all should be moved eastward to Callystown near Clogherhead, which belonged to the Augus tinian nunnery of Termonfeckin.

Credit for compiling the Map goes to Mr. R. Neville Hadcock, who earlier made two similar

maps for North and South Britain. He had no light task in contriving the proper presentation for a subject so varied in its categories of religious houses, in place and time; and we are all

thankful to him for giving us this attractive summary of our monastic history. A final remark concerns the form given to place-names. The Map purports to show a state

of affairs in Ireland prior to the expansion of English power under James I, when Gaelic was the

only vernacular in most of the country and was used widely even within the Pale. Should not

this be reflected in its presentation of the subject ? That is to say, should not the authentic Gaelic

forms be given everywhere, except in those places where genuine English names existed, like our

Templetown, for example ? This would raise no difficulty that goodwill could not overcome.

And it would certainly be a very proper assertion of the primacy of our native language, which as public policy has not yet, at least in theory, been disavowed. One expects as much from a

State department like the Ordnance Survey, as well as from the Royal Irish Academy, which is

associated with it in this matter. Indeed, one expects a lively enterprise in putting native language and culture in front at every opportunity. All the more disappointing is it, therefore, to find that

Ireland's new Monastic Map is a mere imitation of the English one in binding and format, and even at times in the very phrases of the Foreword. However, we must not end on an ungracious note. It is only just to acknowledge the Ordnance Survey and Academy's important part in the

present interesting production, and this we do gratefully and sincerely. D. M!acl.

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