Home

Who
What
Where
When
Why
Ardfert Friary Church
 

County

Kerry

Coordinates

N 52° 19' 49.0"   W 009° 46' 26.1"

Nearest town

Ardfert

Grid Ref.

Q 79120 21284

Map No.

71

Elevation a.s.l. (m)

14

Date of visit

Thursday 27 June 2013

GPS Accuracy (m)

3
Show Google Map              Show Monuments in the area

    
    
    
    
   
PREVIOUS      NEXT
The friary is a little outside the town of Ardfert. A long pathway leads the visitors to the ruins.


This Franciscan Friary was founded by Thomas FitzMaurice, Anglo-Norman Lord of Kerry, in 1253.
The church is a long nave and chancel structure, with a five-light east window and a row of nine lancet windows in the south wall. This design resembles the one of the Ardfert Cathedral which probably served as a model.
Below the nine south windows there are 5 niche tombs added in the later centuries. The two central windows in the south wall have been modified and shortened to accommodate the largest and most elegant of the niche tombs.
The oldest surviving part of the church is the chancel to the east which dates from the 13th century. The arcades that divide the nave from the south aisle were built in the 14th century. In the 15th century the south transept, the west tower and the cloister with all the east and north buildings around it were added.
The most intact section of the cloister is the east range which still retains its passage with a vaulted ceiling. In the northeast corner of the cloister is a carved mask.
The five-storey west tower was built for dwelling purposes. In the 16th century it was used as a barrack accommodation for the soldiers. On the west wall of the residential building attached to the tower there's a nice carving of an angel.

This was our third visit to this friary. The first visit was on May 15th, 2000, the second visit on May 14th, 2002. In both those occasions the weather was gorgeous.
Unfortunately this time the weather was dull, cold and windy, so we felt a bit uncomfortable and the visit was quicker than we would have liked.


Browse by Monument Type
Browse by County
Browse by Date of Visit
Browse by Map Number

A-Z List

Clickable Counties
Clickable OS Maps Grid

Find a Map

Multimap

The days before GPS

The Stones in the Movies

Glossary
Links
Guestbook
FAQ

What's NEW?


Search


Site view counter: 24636106

Copyright © 1994-2024 Antonio D'Imperio
All the photos, the graphics and the texts on this website are automatically copyrighted to me under the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1886. Any violation of the copyright will be pursued according to the applicable laws.

info@irishstones.org

Powered by AxeCMS/CustomEngine(V0.25.00 build 999) by Sergio "Axeman" Lorenzetti. (C) 2009-2015

counter