Mullinabreena

Introduction

Beside the nineteenth-century Cathedral of St Crumnathy at Achonry stand the remains of its medieval predecessor. Little now survives beyond part of the east gable and north wall, yet documentary and archaeological evidence reveals a cathedral whose history extended across several centuries.

Achonry emerged as the episcopal centre of the medieval Diocese of Luighne, formally recognised in the twelfth century. A surviving Romanesque corbel points to church building during this early period, while later records reveal an established cathedral, chapter and landed estate. Together with a possible second church, holy well and other archaeological remains nearby, the medieval cathedral formed part of a wider ecclesiastical landscape.

Its later history was turbulent. The cathedral was threatened with ruin in the fifteenth century, was being used as a fortress by local gentry in 1561, subsequently returned to ecclesiastical use, and was reportedly ruinous by 1615. What remains today represents only a fragment of what was once the episcopal centre of Luighne.

From Early Church to Cathedral

The ecclesiastical origins of Achonry long pre-date the surviving medieval cathedral. Later tradition associates its foundation with St Finnian of Clonard, who is said to have established a church there and placed his pupil Nathy in charge. A medieval tradition also associated Nathy directly with the site. The Félire Óengusso commemorates him on 9 August as a pious priest buried at Achad Cáin, identified in the accompanying commentary with Achad Conaire in Luighne, or Achonry. Although this does not establish the location of his grave within the ecclesiastical complex, it demonstrates that Achonry was remembered as Nathy’s burial place in the medieval period.

The archaeological remains suggest that the religious landscape of Achonry extended beyond the cathedral itself. About 100m to the north-east are the remains of an east-west aligned rectangular structure, approximately 17m long and 5.5m wide internally, with mortared masonry surviving in places and walls about 1.3m thick. Its orientation and form have led the Archaeological Inventory to interpret it as a possible small church, perhaps associated with pilgrimage to Achonry. O’Rorke recorded that local people called ruins in this location “The College”, probably referring to the same structure. Its date and precise function remain unknown.

About 100m south-east of the cathedral lies Toberfinane, a holy well traditionally associated with St Finnian. The well forms part of a penitential station incorporating a cairn and altar. O’Rorke recorded that patterns were held there around 15 August, with as many as two or three hundred people attending. The tradition continued into modern times, with 15 August still observed as the pattern day when the site was archaeologically recorded. Cross-inscribed stones and other pieces of carved stone have also been identified within the cathedral graveyard. Although these features cannot presently be dated to the foundation traditionally associated with Finnian and Nathy, together they demonstrate the wider ecclesiastical and devotional landscape that developed around Achonry.

The historical position becomes clearer in 1152, when the Diocese of Luighne was formally recognised at the Synod of Kells-Mellifont, with Máel Ruanaid O’Ruadhan as its bishop. The diocese was initially known by the territorial name Luighne, but subsequently became identified with its episcopal centre at Achonry.

Physical evidence for this period may survive in a Romanesque corbel found within the old cathedral graveyard. Examined by Martin A. Timoney and Elaine Conroy, it probably dates from the second half of the twelfth century and was later reused as a grave marker. Although its original position is unknown, it provides evidence for Romanesque architectural sculpture at Achonry during the period in which the new diocese was becoming established.

By the thirteenth century the cathedral appears more clearly in the documentary record. Thomas O’Ruadhan, Bishop of Achonry from 1231, died in 1237/38 and, according to Harris’s edition of Ware, was buried in his own cathedral. A Dean of Achonry is recorded by 1246 and an Archdeacon by 1266, while the Dean and Chapter participated in episcopal elections later in the century. By this time Achonry was firmly established as a cathedral centre with its own bishop, chapter and clergy.

The Late-Medieval Cathedral

The first half of the fifteenth century was a turbulent period in Luighne. Conflict between the O’Hara Buidhe and O’Hara Ríabhach developed into a prolonged struggle within the ruling dynasty, marked by raids, hostage-taking and violence. The Church was not removed from these disputes. Senior ecclesiastical offices were held by members of the O’Hara family, while a dispute over a castle built by a Bishop of Achonry on Church lands became entangled in the wider conflict and eventually required papal intervention.

Against this background, Brian O’Hara, rector of Ballymote and newly appointed Dean of Achonry, reported in 1447 that the cathedral was threatened with ruin and required extensive repairs. Brian belonged to the O’Hara Ríabhach line and was a son of Maghnus Ruadh O’Hara, a former Bishop of Achonry. He was permitted to retain the rectory of Ballymote, with part of its revenues assigned towards repairs to the cathedral.

The condition of the cathedral cannot be directly attributed to the political turmoil of the period. Brian himself, however, later became involved in the continuing O’Hara dispute. Violence associated with an attempt to recover a castle built by his father on Church lands formed part of a case brought before Pope Pius II in 1463. Brian subsequently became Bishop of Achonry.

The 1447 appeal is particularly interesting when compared with the surviving architecture. Part of the east gable, with an internal width of approximately 6.85m, and about 14.7m of the north wall of the medieval cathedral survive. In the centre of the east gable are the fragmentary remains of a window that originally contained three sub-arches with switchline tracery cut in limestone. The Archaeological Inventory dates its form to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Although no documentary record of rebuilding has yet been identified, this architectural dating suggests that significant building work took place after the cathedral was described as threatened with ruin in 1447. Whether this work resulted directly from Brian O’Hara’s efforts remains unknown.

How much of the earlier cathedral survived this later building phase is uncertain. The Romanesque corbel points to an earlier phase of ecclesiastical architecture at Achonry, but without further archaeological investigation it cannot be determined whether the late-medieval cathedral represented alterations to an earlier structure or a more substantial reconstruction.

A Cathedral Used as a Fortress

One of the most remarkable descriptions of Achonry Cathedral comes from 1561. On 12 October that year, the Jesuit David Wolfe, Apostolic Delegate in Ireland, wrote concerning the vacant bishopric of Achonry and recommended the Dominican Eugene O’Hart as its next bishop.

Wolfe reported that the cathedral was “used as a fortress by the gentry of the neighbourhood” and retained no appearance of religious use. He did not identify those occupying it. Liam Swords has suggested that they were probably members of the O’Hara family, the dominant Gaelic dynasty of Luighne, although no particular branch or individual can be identified.

Wolfe nevertheless believed that O’Hart could recover the cathedral “with the aid of his friends.” These supporters were not named, but O’Hart possessed significant connections within the Gaelic political world of Sligo. His family had served as retainers of the O’Connors of Sligo, while Sir Donal O’Connor Sligo was a patron of O’Hart himself. Such connections may help explain Wolfe’s confidence, although the identity of the supporters he envisaged remains unknown.

The account belongs to a period of considerable instability in Sligo. The O’Donnells were pressing their claims over the O’Connor Sligo lordship, while the O’Connors themselves had been divided by internal conflict. O’Donnell forces were active around Sligo in 1561, and Sligo Castle was again the subject of competing claims. There is no evidence directly connecting these events with the occupation of Achonry Cathedral, but they illustrate the political environment in which an ecclesiastical building could assume a defensive role.

Wolfe’s recommendation was accepted, and Eugene O’Hart was appointed Bishop of Achonry in 1562.

Eugene O’Hart and the Recovery of Achonry

Soon after his appointment O’Hart attended the Council of Trent. On returning to Ireland he entered a difficult political and religious environment, but later evidence suggests that Wolfe’s expectation that he could re-establish episcopal authority at Achonry was fulfilled.

The clearest evidence for the continuing episcopal centre comes from the Composition of Connacht in 1585. It recognised the Bishop of Achonry as possessing six quarters of land as demesne attached to his “house or towne of Achonry”, together with additional episcopal property elsewhere. O’Hart himself appears among the parties to the settlement as Eugenius Achadensis, Episcopus. Achonry was therefore not simply the site of the cathedral, but the centre of a substantial episcopal estate.

Its importance is also reflected on a map of County Sligo dating from about 1589, among the earliest surviving maps of the county. Achonry is prominently marked “Byshop acconry” and depicted with an ecclesiastical building alongside a substantial adjoining structure. The map cannot be treated as an exact architectural representation, but it provides valuable contemporary evidence for Achonry’s continuing identity as an episcopal centre.

O’Hart’s position became increasingly unusual following the establishment of a parallel Church of Ireland hierarchy. In 1591, the Crown appointed Eugene O’Connor, formerly Dean of Achonry, as Protestant Bishop of Killala with responsibility for Achonry. According to the later account of John Lynch, O’Connor and O’Hart had known one another from earlier life, and O’Hart was permitted to continue exercising his episcopal functions within the diocese in return for an annual payment of 180 marks to O’Connor. O’Hart remained active, and the Franciscan Donatus Mooney encountered the elderly bishop during his visitation of the west of Ireland in 1597.

O’Hart died in 1603, after an episcopate of more than forty years, and was reportedly buried within Achonry Cathedral close to the high altar on the Gospel side. His burial provides important evidence that the cathedral had regained a religious function since Wolfe’s description of 1561. Although no surviving document records precisely when the church was recovered, the evidence from the later sixteenth century and O’Hart’s burial suggests that Achonry had again become an active centre of Catholic episcopal life.

Ruin and the Cathedral Estate

By 1615, only twelve years after O’Hart’s burial, the medieval cathedral was reportedly ruinous. The surviving visitation evidence also reveals serious difficulties in the organisation and revenues of the cathedral chapter.

The cathedral was supported by prebends, churches or revenues assigned to individual members of its chapter. Five recorded in 1615, including Imlafaghda, Clonoghill and Killoshalwey, were held by Edward Crofton and described as having belonged, “as is alleged”, to the Cathedral Church of Achonry. Some of these place-names also appear among the ecclesiastical lands recorded in the Composition of Connacht in 1585, suggesting continuity in the Church’s interests in these locations, although the precise relationship between the episcopal estate and the cathedral prebends remains uncertain.

Other prebends remained associated with the bishop, while the wider cathedral establishment was in considerable disorder. The situation was complicated further by Miler Magrath, who held Achonry from 1607 and had annexed a number of its benefices. By 1633, only a small proportion of the cathedral prebends were being served by ministers, with many remaining vacant.

The evidence therefore points to difficulties extending beyond the physical deterioration of the cathedral building. During the decades following O’Hart’s death, the lands, revenues and offices associated with the cathedral were subject to significant changes under the Church of Ireland settlement. Achonry survived as a cathedral institution, but its medieval organisation had been substantially disrupted.

Restoration and Replacement

The subsequent history of the medieval cathedral building is poorly documented. Although reportedly ruinous in 1615, it appears to have remained in use, or to have returned to use, before its eventual replacement in the nineteenth century. The date and extent of any repairs remain unknown.

The episcopal connection with Achonry nevertheless continued. In 1755, four quarters of land at Achonry were leased by the Bishop of Killala and Achonry to Robert Fleming, demonstrating the continued existence of an episcopal estate centred on Achonry. By 1785, the cathedral was still recognised as a place of burial: in his will, James Naper of Tubbercurry directed that he was “to be buried in Cathedral Church of Achonry.”

By the early nineteenth century the old building was evidently no longer considered adequate. In 1820, Dean Arthur Henry Kenny advertised for an architect for a new church at Achonry. The present Cathedral of St Crumnathy was subsequently erected immediately beside its medieval predecessor, opening in 1822. O’Rorke later recorded its total cost as £1,476, while Samuel Lewis identified a loan of £1,066 from the Board of First Fruits towards the rebuilding. A nineteenth-century account also states that stone from the medieval cathedral was reused in the new building, although this has not been independently verified.

The old cathedral was still recognisable after its replacement. In 1837, Samuel Lewis recorded its ruins beside the new church. Much of the structure subsequently disappeared, leaving principally the east gable and part of the north wall within the graveyard today.

Conclusion

Although little of the medieval cathedral survives, its remains and documentary history reveal the importance of Achonry as an ecclesiastical centre over many centuries. Romanesque sculpture, late-medieval architecture and the surrounding ecclesiastical landscape complement a documentary record extending from the medieval Diocese of Luighne through the upheavals of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

The remains of the medieval cathedral, the nearby possible church known traditionally as “The College”, Toberfinane and the other archaeological features around Achonry are therefore best understood not as isolated monuments, but as parts of a much larger ecclesiastical centre that developed here over many centuries.

Sources and References

Primary and Contemporary Sources

• Annals of Ulster, entries relating to the medieval Diocese of Luighne and its bishops.
• Annals of Loch Cé, entries relating to Achonry and the medieval bishops.
• Annals of Connacht, entries relating to the O’Hara lordship and ecclesiastical history.
• Annals of the Four Masters, entries relating to Achonry, Luighne and the O’Hara dynasty.
• Mac Carthaigh’s Book, entry for 1237.
• Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Papal Letters, entry concerning Brian O’Hara, Dean of Achonry, and provision for repairs to the cathedral (1447).
• Papal mandate of Pope Pius II concerning Brian O’Hara and the dispute over a castle built by a Bishop of Achonry on Church lands (1463).
• Harris, Walter (ed.), The Whole Works of Sir James Ware Concerning Ireland, vol. I (Dublin, 1739), account of the medieval bishops of Achonry.
• Wolfe, David, letter concerning the See of Achonry, 12 October 1561, reproduced in Patrick Francis Moran, “The See of Achonry in the Sixteenth Century”, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. I (1865), pp. 209–217.
• Freeman, A. Martin (ed.), The Compossicion Booke of Conought (Dublin, 1936), entries relating to the Bishop and See of Achonry.
• The County of Sligo, c.1589, The National Archives, Kew, MPF 1/91.
• Letters Patent, 1 December 1591, appointment of Eugene O’Connor as Bishop of Killala with responsibility for Achonry.
• Lynch, John, account of Eugene O’Hart and Eugene O’Connor, reproduced in Moran (1865), pp. 216–217.
• Mooney, Donatus, Franciscan visitation account (1597), reproduced in Moran (1865), p. 217.
• Royal Visitation of the Diocese of Achonry (1615), William Reeves transcription, Trinity College Dublin, MS 1066; see also Knox (1904).
• Royal Visitation of the Diocese of Achonry (1633), as discussed in Knox (1904).
• Registry of Deeds, Abstracts of Wills, vol. III, 1785–1832, James Naper of Tubbercurry, 1 August 1785, memorial 381-441-252402.
• Sligo Journal (1820), advertisement by Dean Arthur Henry Kenny seeking an architect for a new church at Achonry.
• Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (London, 1837), “Achonry”.
• Stokes, Whitley (ed.), On the Calendar of Oengus, Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, Irish Manuscript Series, vol. I, part I (Dublin, 1880), entry for 9 August.

Secondary Works

• Gwynn, Aubrey, and R. Neville Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland (London, 1970).

• Egan, Ursula, Eoin Byrne and Mary Sleeman, with Sheila Ronan and Claire Murphy, Archaeological Inventory of County Sligo, Volume I: South Sligo (Dublin, 2005).

• National Monuments Service, Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Achonry ecclesiastical complex: cathedral SL032-188002-; possible church SL032-188001-; graveyard SL032-188003-; holy well SL032-188006-; cross-slab SL032-188011-.

• Timoney, Martin A., and Elaine Conroy, “A Romanesque Corbel, Achonry High Medieval Cathedral, Co. Sligo”, The Corran Herald, Issue 57 (2024/25), pp. 92–94.

• Swords, Liam, A People’s Church: The Diocese of Achonry, the First Thousand Years: From the Sixth to the Seventeenth Century (Dublin: Columba Press, 2011).

•Knox, Hubert Thomas, Notes on the Early History of the Dioceses of Tuam, Killala and Achonry (Dublin, 1904).

• Moran, Patrick Francis, “The See of Achonry in the Sixteenth Century”, Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. I (1865), pp. 209–217.

• O’Rorke, Terence, The History of Sligo: Town and County, 2 vols. (Dublin, 1889).

• Wood-Martin, W. G., History of Sligo, County and Town, 3 vols. (Dublin, 1882–92).

• Galloway, Peter, The Cathedrals of Ireland (Belfast, 1992), Achonry.