Mayo history: Burriscarra Augustinian friary dates from 1298

By Tom Gillespie

THE remains of Burriscarra Augustinian Friary stand in the picturesque landscape of the barony of Carra in west Mayo, close to the shores of Lough Carra.

The friary, a national monument, was originally founded in 1298 for the Carmelites, another mendicant order, by Adam de Staunton (d. 1300), possibly on the site of an earlier monastery.

It was abandoned before 1383, but was refunded as an Augustinian friary in 1413. It was burned around 1430 but was restored shortly afterwards.

The repairs, additions to and insertions in the 13th century church probably date from this rebuilding. There is a 14th century parish church located in the same field.

It was usurped by the Cromwellians and later Charles II granted it to Sir Henry Lynch whose family kept it until the last century. It is now in the ownership of the Office of Public Works. The current remains are largely of the early 14th century.

By the early 15th century, the friary had lain abandoned by the Carmelite friars for over 30 years.

In 1413, the deserted friary was handed over to the Augustinian friars of nearby Ballinrobe at the instance of Edmund and Richard Staunton.

They were descendants of the original founder of the friary, Adam de Stauton, and had received permission for that transfer of the friary from Maurice O’Kelly (Muircheartach mac Pilib Ó Ceallaigh), (d.1407) Archbishop of Tuam.

The remains are quite extensive, and consist of the church, the sacristy, the east range, and part of the west range of domestic buildings where the friars lived and worked.

The de Stauntons or Stantons were Anglo-Norman barons who likely hailed from Stanton in Warwickshire in England, and were supporters of the Richard Mór de Burgh (d.1242), 1st lord of Connacht.

The likely founder of the original Carmelite friary was Adam de Staunton, who had been given permission by the Red Earl of Ulster, Richard Óg de Burgo (d.1326), 2nd earl of Ulster and 3rd lord of Connacht, to also build the neighbouring fortification at Castlecarra, which sat on the north-eastern shore of Lough Carra.

His grand-father, also named Adam, was lord of Moone in County Kildare, and obtained the cantred of Cera, in the southern part of the present barony of Carra, Co. Mayo, as well as the part of the barony of Kilmaine north of the River Robe, which rises near Ballyhaunis and enters Lough Mask near Ballinrobe.

Many de Stauntons took the name McEvilly or Mac an Mhilidh (descendant of the knight) after the heinous murder of Edmund de Burgh, younger son of the Red Earl.

Members of the Staunton family had been charged with guarding Edmond, who had been captured by his kinsman, Sir Edmond Albanach de Burgh, known as ‘the Scot’.

The Stauntons, fearing for their safety if the Red Earl’s son was released, tied him up in a bag, weighed it down with stones and drowned him in Lough Mask. This earned the family the name Clan Ulcin, meaning the children of evil, hence the name change to McEvilly!

The transfer of the Carmelite friary to the Augustinian friars was finalised by Papal decree from Pope Gregory XII (d. 1415).

Edmund and Richard Staunton are named as having prompted a group of Augustinian friars, led by a friar named Mattew Omaan, to inhabit the friary.

The decree specifies that they did so with the consent of both Maurice, Archbishop of Tuam, and Henry, rector of the parish church of St. Mary and the Holy Cross, which is probably the medieval church located just a couple of hundred meters from the friary.

However, the transfer did not take place without a hitch; in 1438 Gerardo da Rimini, the order’s Prior General, ordered William Wells, the English Provincial, to investigate and be the judge on a dispute between the Carmelites and the Augustinian friars about the occupation of this friary.

He appears to have decided in favour of his fellow Augustinians, and they remained in possession of the friary until it’s suppression.

The remains of Burriscarra are amongst the most extensive of the Augustinian order in Ireland, which gives them an important place in the architectural heritage of Irish mendicant friaries, dominated by the Franciscan order.

They are also located in a very picturesque landscape, on the shores of Lough Carra, and near another medieval building, the fourteenth-century parish church of Buriscarra.

In the friary church can be observed typical features found in mendicant churches: sedilia, where the clergy sat during Mass, and a piscina, used for washing sacramental vessels.

The sedilia features a hood moulding with carved heads at each end. They are unfortunately quite damaged, but might have represented patrons of the friars, perhaps involved in the construction of the church.

The survival of part of the domestic buildings, a rare occurrence in an Augustinian context, give the visitor an insight into the friars’ everyday life; where they worked, ate and slept.

In 1962 the Office of Public Works (OPW) carried out a conservation project on the friary.

The site seems particularly peaceful, and visitors are surrounded by the abbey ruins, a church ruin and gravestones, old and new.

The oldest one recorded with a date was 1738, but older graves without dates were also present.