Rooms

Adare Franciscan Friary

Site Plan

Nave/ Laybrothers’ Choir:

Located in the western part of the church, the nave was where congregations gathered to hear sermons preached and to attend Mass. In Cistercian churches, the nave was the site of the Laybrothers’ Choir, the area in which those members of the community charged with manual work attended Mass and an abbreviated form of the Divine Office at the beginning and the end of their day’s work

View direction: East

View details: A view of the crossing tower, taking from the nave, showing another three tomb niches, this time on the north wall of the nave, of a similar style to the other tombs, which indicates that they were built around the same time, seemingly from the time of the construction of the friary.

View direction: North

View details: Three tomb niches (or enfeux), in the north wall of the choir, where important benefactors of the friary would have been buried. Directly to the left of the tombs is the entrance to the sacristy.

sprite-up Back to top

The transept is the space which intersects the nave and chancel, giving the church its characteristic cruciform appearance. These rectangular extensions to the north and south of the church provided space for additional altars dedicated to various saints and serving as mortuary, burial or chantry chapels for the community’s benefactors. In a mendicant context, only one transept arm is found, in most cases abutting the nave, or the nave and the tower between the chancel and the nave, known as a ‘one armed transept.’

A view of the south window of the transept arm, south of the church nave. It is a four-light pointed window with switch-line tracery, very similar to the choir east window. Note the presence of another tomb niche below the window to the left.

View direction: East

View details: A view of the transept, standing in the small chapel projecting off its west wall.

sprite-up Back to top

Side Chapels:

Secondary altars within a designated space in the church are known as chapels

These can be dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Lady Chapel) or be erected by members of a specific family as a private chapel

Mass was celebrated here for smaller congregations

View direction: East

View details: View of one of the private chapels projecting off the east side of the transept arm, which is itself located to the south of the nave.

On both sides of the chapel are tomb niches, similar to those in the nave and the choir. Private masses would have been celebrated by the friars for the souls of those buried there, probably the members of the same family.

sprite-up Back to top

Towers served as belfries, ringing out the hours of the Divine Offices, which called the religious community to the church. They were generally built over crossing or the intersection of the nave and chancel.

View direction: East

View details: Another look at the tower from the nave, with a view of the four-light east window. To the right you can just see the arches leading into the transept arm

View direction: West

View details: Another look at the crossing tower, this time looking from the choir into the nave, and at the west window, a group of three simple lancets.

View direction: South

View details: A view of the tower from the sacristy, in the east range.

sprite-up Back to top

Monks’ Choir/ Presbytery:

Situated at the east end of the church and separated from the nave by a wooden or stone screen (cancellus), the chancel was the area reserved to the members of the religious community. At its west end were the choir stalls where the community gathered for the daily celebration of the Divine Office. At the east end of the chancel, underneath the principal window stood the High Altar and the sedilia or ornamental seats for the clergy officiating at Mass. This part of the chancel was also known as the presbytery

View of the east window.

View direction: West

View details: A view of the church east window, with the east range extending to the right.

sprite-up Back to top

The Cloister:

The cloister was an open quadrangle (garth) surrounded by a covered (or open) walkway, ambulatory or arcade. Running along the walls of a monastery’s church and domestic buildings, connected the domestic buildings with the church via a covered walkway.

The cloister arcade, viewed from the cloister alley (or ambulatory). There two different types of arcading on either side. To the left, four arches filled with a further three simple pointed arches. To the right, a succession of pointed arches resting on twin columns with moulded bases and capitals.

sprite-up Back to top

The eastern range contained essential rooms for monastic life, such as the sacristy, chapter house, calefactory and dormitories above.

The eastern end of the friary now looks out onto the green of the 14th hole of Adare Manor golf course.

sprite-up Back to top

The west range of domestic buildings was where the community interacted with the secular world, where visitors and alms were received. In Benedictine and Cistercian communities, the west range was reserved for the lay brothers.

View direction: West

View details: A general view of the eastern side of the friary, with, from left to right, the church, the east range, and the garderobe.

sprite-up Back to top

Many religious houses functioned as hospitals for the wider community and ran leprosaria for the care of lepers. Sick or infirm members of the community were cared for in the infirmary, often a separate building located to the east of the main claustral complex. Here the religious followed a relaxed dietary and liturgical regime. Occasionally benefactors of the community were permitted to pass their final days in the monastic infirmary.

View direction: South

View details: A view of the refectory, only the south wall of which survives extensively. It made up the north range of the friary, a usual position, and was connected to the kitchen, the south wall of which is seen here to the right, in the west range of the friary.

View direction: South

View details: Another view of the refectory, in the north range of the friary. Note to the extreme right of the picture the doorway connecting the refectory to the kitchen in the west range. The friars would have entered the room from the cloister through the doorway located to the right of the fireplace.

sprite-up Back to top

Refectory:

The refectory was the main dining room of the community, normally located in the cloister range parallel to the church. In houses of Augustinian Canons, the refectory was often located on the first floor, a position that recalled the cenaculum, or upper room in Jerusalem in which Christ had celebrated the Last Supper. Each refectory contained a pulpitum, or reader’s desk from which a member of the community read devotional material during the silent communal meals

There was a lavabo at the entrance for the religious to wash their hands

View direction: North

View details: Inside the kitchen, where the friars’ meals were prepared. Note the fireplace at the back on the north wall.

View direction: South West

View details: A view of the north end of the west range, where the kitchen was located.

sprite-up Back to top

Cloister Garth:

The uncovered central space within a cloister

The cloister garth is surrounded by the cloister arcade or alley, which was a covered walkway which connects the domestic ranges and the church

View details: Another view of the cloister arcade, which surrounds the cloister garth.

sprite-up Back to top

sprite-up Back to top