The unique medieval wall paintings of Clare Island’s Abbey

By Tom Gillespie

IN 2005 Muintir Mhaigh Eo, Átha Cliath published ‘A Century of Service 1905-2005’, edited by Christy Loftus, recalling the growth of the association.

One of the many articles in the book was by Siona Breathneach concerning the Clare Island Abbey wall paintings.

She wrote: The Abbey on Clare Island is an exceptional treasure. It contains a wonderful display of unusual and extremely rare medieval wall paintings.

These fragile wall paintings have survived on this lonely Atlantic outpost against the odds and give a wonderful and extraordinary insight into the life, imagination and decoration of Clare Island in medieval times.

The circumstances under which the church was founded remain puzzling but it is clear that during the 13th century the earlier part of the Abbey was built for the Cistercian Order and that the O’Malleys, who were chiefs off the area, were in some way involved. The church went on to become a monument to the O’Malleys rather than a spiritual outpost of the Cistercian Order.

In fact, the chancel of the Abbey appears to have been built as a veritable royal burial chapel for the O’Malleys in the 15th century. The O’Malley coat of arms is displayed on a heraldic plaque on the wall of this burial chamber.

Local rumour has it that Grace O’Malley, Granuaile, the Pirate Queen, is buried in this chamber although historians think that it is much more likely that her true burial place is in Abbeyknockmoy.

A book about the Abbey on Clare Island and its wall paintings was launched in May 2005 on Clare Island by the Royal Irish Academy as part of The New Survey of Clare Island series. The wall paintings are photographed and beautifully reproduced in colour for this volume and the importance and rarity of these paintings in a national and European context is highlighted and explained.

Cistercian monks from Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, were invited by the Royal Irish Academy to participate in the launch of the book. People crowded into the small Abbey and were captivated by simple, solemn chants sung by the monks.

Brother Richard of Mount St. Joseph Abbey explained to the crowd that Cistercian Monks stationed on the island in medieval times would have sung the same chants that are sung in present day Cistercian Monasteries, such as Salve Maria.

The wonderful mixture of the beauty of the wall paintings, with atmosphere created by the chanting of the monks, made it a most magical experience for those present in the little church. It may have been up to 300 years since Cistercians had last sung in the Abbey until that summery Saturday in May 2005.

The most surprising aspect of the small paintings in the Abbey is that many of the images are not of a religious nature. There are definite religious images such as a crucifixion and also St. Michael weighing souls, which conveys the message that on Judgement Day, St. Michael weighs one’s good deeds and sins against each other in order to determine the fate of the soul.

Predominant, however, are non-religious images depicting a variety of real and imaginary animals and persons adorning the walls of the chancel of the Abbey, making these wall paintings extremely rare and scarce.

There is a cattle raid taking place across the roof of the Abbey showing herds of cattle, sheep and pigs and an armed herdsman who has been wounded by an arrow in his back (pictured), fired by a nearby archer.

There are soldiers and a magnificent knight on horseback, brandishing a spear over his head.

Cattle raiding is well documented in Irish literature and was regarded as a particularly aristocratic occupation right up to the 17th century. Wonderful mythical beasts - a winger dragon, body sharing beasts, a double-headed eagle and serpents - also feature and have survived in bright red and vivid yellow across the walls of the Abbey as well as some more unusual wildlife: cranes, birds, cats and dogs.

Musicians and musical instruments are well represented on the walls of the Abbey, in keeping with medieval musicals imagery making reference to rejoicing and singing of God’s praises.

A harpist and a lyre player are making heavenly music and close by the first and only known picture of a medieval organ was uncovered during the recent conversation work showing one person playing the organ with another operating a bellows in order to create the sound of the organ.

The Royal Irish Academy has been travelling to Clare Island for over 100 years. Art the start of the last century, Robert Lloyd Praegar and a team of fieldworkers set off for Clare island. Their goals to embark on the most ambitious natural history project ever undertaken in Ireland and the first major biological survey of a specific area carried out in the world which was known as the Survey of Clare Island (1901-1911). Visitors of all kinds to the island were for years referred to as ‘Praegars’ by the islanders.

The new survey of Clare Island was launched in 1991, to resurvey the island using up-to-date methods and compare and contrast the findings with the results of the original survey and assess almost a century of change.

The wall paintings in the Abbey were included in this and were in precarious condition at the time of the resurvey - some of the paintings were literally in danger of falling off the walls.

The survival of these unique paintings has been helped by a painstaking restoration over more than 10 years headed up by Christoph Oldenbourg and Karena Morton and teams of conservators with the support of the National Monuments Section of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Many of the images were not in as good condition as during the first survey at the start of the 20th century. Indeed, some of the images that were documented in the original survey were no longer there, while others had deteriorated badly.

Oldenberg and Morton pioneered new methods of conservation during their restoration such as using ultra-violet light to kill fungi and other microbiology growing on the damp walls.

This growth and bacteria has been generally removed from the paintings with a variety of apparatus from sponges to dental implements.

This conservation technique led to the discovery of some previously unknown images, most important of which is the first and only Irish image of a medieval organ.