Baltinglass Abbey

File:Baltinglass-abbey-1.jpg of the church. The 1832 tomb of the Stratford family is visible at right.]]

Founded in 1148 by Diarmait Mac Murchada, the King of Leinster, Baltinglass Abbey sits beside the River Slaney in a valley of the Wicklow Mountains.{{Sfn|O'Keefe|1997|p=53}} The original name Belach Conglais means "pass of Cú Glas," referring to a mythological hero that was killed by wild boars.{{Cite web |date=2017-11-10 |title=Bealach Conglais – How Baltinglass got its name |url=https://heritage.wicklowheritage.org/places/baltinglass/bealach_conglais_how_baltinglass_got_its_name |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=County Wicklow Heritage |language=en}} The abbey is roughly contemporary with Ferns Abbey, St Saviour's Priory, and possibly also Killeshin Church. {{Sfn|O'Keefe|1997|p=71}}

Baltinglass Abbey was established as a daughter house of Mellifont Abbey, a Cistercian abbey near Drogheda.{{Sfn|Gwynn|Hadcock|1970|p=127}} Diarmait gave it the Latin name Vallis Salutis, meaning "Valley of Salvation",{{cite book |last=Meehan |first=Cary |date=2004 |title=Sacred Ireland |url= |location=Somerset |publisher=Gothic Image Publications |page=321|isbn=0 906362 43 1 |access-date=}} and granted it eight parcels of land in the region as an endowment.

Grangecon, a nearby village, was originally an out-farm of the monks. They operated a corn-mill in the area that the village now occupies.{{Cite news |date=5 April 2008 |title=The Irish village at a crossroads |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/the-irish-village-at-a-crossroads-1.910230 |access-date=19 January 2023 }}

The first stage of the building was completed by 1170, it had become the mother house of Jerpoint Abbey in about 1160,{{cite journal |last1=Vál |first1=Séamus de |title=A Glance at Five Cistercian Abbeys of the South-East |journal=The Past: The Organ of the Uí Cinsealaigh Historical Society |date=2008 |issue=29 |pages=54–76 |jstor=44554278 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44554278 |access-date=29 August 2023}} and in 1228 it is recorded that there were 36 monks and 50 lay brothers living at Baltinglass.{{cite web |title=Cistercian Abbeys: Baltinglass |url=https://www.dhi.ac.uk/cistercians/abbeys/baltinglass.php |website=The Digital Humanities Institute |publisher=University of Sheffield |access-date=29 Aug 2023}}

The Abbey was occupied for nearly 400 years until it was shut down by the 1536 Dissolution of the Monasteries and granted to Edmond Butler, 3rd/13th Baron Dunboyne. A Church of Ireland church was built within the abbey itself in 1815, but it closed in 1883.{{cite web|url=https://visionsofthepastblog.com/2012/09/09/baltinglass-abbey-co-wicklow/|title=Baltinglass Abbey, Wicklow, Ireland|first=Ed |last=Hannon|date=9 September 2012|publisher=Visions of the Past}}{{cite web|url=http://www.monastic.ie/history/baltinglass-cistercian-abbey/|title=Baltinglass Cistercian Abbey – Monastic Ireland|publisher=}}

{{stack|File:BaltinglassAbbey4957.jpg]]}}

The stonework at the abbey shows carved humans and animals and is a particular Cistercian form of Romanesque architecture.{{Sfn|O'Keefe|1997|p=57}} The decoration on the capitals is similar to that at its daughter house Jerpoint.{{cite web |title=Baltinglass Abbey – Wicklow County Tourism |url=http://visitwicklow.ie/attractions/baltinglass-abbey/ |publisher=}}{{cite web |last=CHI |title=Baltinglass Abbey, Co. Wicklow |url=http://www.culturalheritageireland.ie/index.php/heritage-sites-and-centres/96-baltinglass-abbey-co-wicklow |publisher=}}{{cite web |title=Baltinglass Abbey, Wicklow |url=http://www.megalithicireland.com/Baltinglass%20Abbey,%20Wicklow.html |publisher=}}

{{cite web |title=Baltinglass Cistercian Abbey |url=http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/wicklow/baltinglass/baltinglass.html |publisher=}}

The surviving church (56 m in length) and some of the cloister date from the 12th century, consisting of the nave with aisles, chancel, square presbytery with three-light window and a pair of transepts from which small chapels project. The south aisle of the church is joined to the choir by a twelfth-century doorway. Part of the original cloister, to the south of the church, has been rebuilt. The church also has 13th and 15th-century additions. The east windows and tower were built in the nineteenth century.

A glazed tile potentially depicting Saint George and the Dragon was unearthed at the abbey in 1941. At that point, it was the only tile ever found in Ireland with a human figure painted on it.{{Sfn|Parker|1941|p=148}}

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Wicklow)

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• {{Cite book |last1=Gwynn |first1=Aubrey |title=Medieval Religious Houses in Ireland |last2=Hadcock |first2=R. Neville |publisher=Longman |year=1970 |isbn=0-582-11229-X |location=London |pages=127–128}}
• {{Cite journal |last=O'Keefe |first=Tadhg |date=1997 |title=Diarmait Mac Murchada and Romanesque Leinster: Four Twelfth-Century Churches in Context |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25549827 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |volume=127 |pages=52–79 |jstor=25549827 }}
• {{Cite journal |last=Parker |first=William S. |date=31 December 1941 |title=A Decorated Tile from Baltinglass Abbey |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25510314 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=148 |jstor=25510314 }}

{{refend}}

Category:Cistercian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Archaeological sites in County Wicklow

Category:National monuments in County Wicklow

Category:1148 establishments in Ireland