Monday, November 24, 2008
Claregalway Friary, County Galway
The Friary in Claregalway was commissioned in the 1250's by a Norman Knight, it flourished as a community until the 16th century reformation and was ransacked by the British army marching to Galway. It was used as a barracks for a while until the Franciscians took possession of it in 1941, it was in a state of disrepair and was not in their power to get it in running order. There were as many as 220 living in the building in the mid 1700's, by the 1830's there were only 2 left. The remaining 2 moved to the Galway community in the winter of 1847, tho' the friary remained a place of worship until 1860. It's graveyard is still used by the community to this day.
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4 comments:
Great shots, and what a beautiful place. Hauntingly beautiful, isn't that the term? It's kind of ironic, because I am so anti-religious, but I love old churches and monasteries. I tend to think that it isn't because they're churches etc though, it's because they're old. Relics of a bygone era. And unfortunately a lot of buildings that have survived from the medieval and early modern periods are religious structures. Old castles are even better, obviously. :-)
Because of our history a lot of our castles were destroyed, same too with the church's which were a constant target, but I love old ruins in general even the small houses as you might have figured, there is a famine village in the area must get a few shots of it, amazing the sizes of the houses
Great photos indeed. I love the light and the general atmosphere, sort of grey and a bit spookily [hm, is that a word?!] gloomy. So many places to see, so little time..!
I saw some famine houses out in Carraroe. They were absurdly tiny! Are the ones in your area like that as well?
Leisha: Do you mean to say that you could never find a modern church beautiful, then?
famine houses tended to be tiny, amazing that a family could live in them
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