Tag Archives: Lorrha

A Partial Restoration



In the first decades of the 19th century, many old places of worship in Ireland were restored or rebuilt thanks to funds from the Board of First Fruits. In Lorrha, County Tipperary, St Ruadháns church is thought to have been constructed on the site of the early monastery founded by the eponymous Ruadhán in 540. On the south wall, an arched doorway features a carved head which may represent Walter de Burgh and have been taken from the nearby Augustinian Abbey (see Former Greatness « The Irish Aesthete). Below it, a pointed doorway with decoration was added in the 15th century; it is decorated with rose motifs, vine leaves and a pelican drawing blood from its breast. According to Samuel Lewis writing in 1837, the building had been ‘recently repaired by a grant of £113 from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners.’ While the nave was left a ruin, the chancel was restored to provide a church suitable for a relatively small congregation.



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Former Greatness


Difficult though it is to imagine today, the village of Lorrha, County Tipperary was once a major centre of religious activity. St Ruadhan is believed to have founded a monastery here in the sixth century and this flourished until the mid-ninth century when it was twice attacked by the Vikings. Following the arrival of the Normans some 300 years later, the old monastery was re-established, this time as a priory under the care of the Augustinian Canons.



The Augustinian Priory remained active until 1541 when dissolved on the orders of Henry VIII: eleven years later the buildings were granted on a twenty year lease to the last prior. The church is the most substantial surviving part of the establishment, and is notable for its carved doorway at the west end, at the top of which is a the head of a woman wearing an elaborate headdress. While it is claimed this represents a member of the de Burgh family responsible for establishing the priory in the 12th century both the doorway and the east window date from some three centuries later, so this seems unlikely