Rooms

Quin 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: south

View details: Greeting the worshipper as they entered the church was a holy water stoup. The importance of the blessed water was emphasised by the small carved vault carved on the underside of this feature

View direction: east

View details: The buttresses supporting the tall graceful tower at Quin define the transition from the nave to the choir. Minor altars are still located on either side of the arched opening, and would have been used for the celebration of private masses

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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 direction: South

View details: A close look at this tomb, located to the south of the high alter, reveals that the stone framework was originally surmounted by a stucco crucifixion scene, parts of which are still visible on the wall surface above

View direction: south

View details: A close look at the mouldings surrounding the tomb to the south of the altar reveals a mason’s ‘handy’ work!

View direction: east

View details: The original high altar still survives at the east end of the church. Arrangement of the space between it and the window suggests the former presence of an altarpiece, while form of the MacNamara tomb to the left suggests that it was also used as an ‘Easter sepulchre’. This was a table, with curtains, used during the Easter liturgy

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Sacristy:

The sacristy (or vestry) is a room off the church, where vestments, church furnishings and altar plate are stored and where the clergy robe for church services

View direction: east

View details: The corbels lining the walls of the sacristy at Quin suggest the former presence of shelves carrying the precious possessions of the friary

View direction: south

View details: The sacrarium, located in the sacristy, was the place where the altar vessels were ritually washed after Mass. The miniature vault highlighted the importance of this ritual, the miniature corbels originally supported a rail from which was hung a water jug or aquamanile.

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Transept:

In monastic churches the transepts were rectangular extensions abutting the nave/chancel that gave the church its characteristic cruciform appearance. In friary churches generally only one transept is found. The transept provided space for additional altars dedicated to various saints and serving as mortuary, burial or chantry chapels for the community’s benefactors. In friaries the transept was often the location of a shrine to the Virgin Mary and was known as the Lady Chapel

View direction: south east

View details: The interior of the south transept may originally have been sub-divided by timber screens. The two minor altars under each of the east windows would have served as the focal point of semi-private chantry, or memorial, chapels

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Kitchen:

The kitchen was normally located adjacent to the refectory to facilitate the reception of deliveries and the distribution of alms. Kitchens were used for preparing food, baking and sometimes brewing. Kitchens were occasionally situated in separate buildings, to reduce the risk of fire from the ovens

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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: south

View details: The friars’ refectory, or dining hall, still retains its original flagged floor and the stone bases of the tables or benches at which they sat. Close to the top of the room is a large fireplace and readers’ desk

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Dormitory:

The room on the upper east range where the brethren slept in common. In the later Middle Ages some dormitories were partitioned into cubicles to provide privacy

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Cloister:

An open quadrangle (garth) surrounded by a covered walkway, ambulatory or arcade; connects the domestic offices with the church

View direction: west

View details: The small, intimate cloister is one of the best surviving examples of a mendicant cloister in the country

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Garderobe

Garderobe:

The garderobe was the lavatory usually situated at the northern end of the dormitory. It consisted of a room with a long bench and a pit below into which the waste fell. Many religious houses had sophisticated sewerage systems that flushed the waste away

View direction: south east

View details: The extension to the left of the building occupied the garderobe, or en-suite facilities. Inside the original supports for the bench survive, as does a niche for a lamp.

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