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SELSKAR ABBEY[edit]
Selskar Abbey is a significant medieval ruin in the town of Wexford, in the Republic of Ireland. The remains of the original 12th century abbey are accompanied on the site by a square bell tower, (thought to be of the 14th century)[1] and a 19th century Anglican church.
History[edit]
Selskar Abbey, previously known as the Priory of SS Peter and Paul, was established it is thought around AD 1190[2] although there is no extant documentation to support this. It has also been said that the first treaty ever signed in Ireland with the English was on this spot, in the year 1169, when the town of Wexford surrendered to Diarmuid MacMorrough and his Norman allies[3] . It is known however, that a synod was held there in AD 1240[4] .
Selskar was suppressed under Henry VIII and dissolved around 1537 (Source Required).
The abbey, along with 6 other Wexford churches was destroyed following the surrender of the town to Oliver Cromwell in 1649. Cromwell ordered the bells of the abbey shipped to the arsenal at Chester, possibly with the intention of having them melted down for gun metal, but they were purchased by the Dean of Liverpool and removed to the Old Church near River Street, Liverpool[5] .
A Protestant church was built on the grounds in 1818 and was in service up to the 1960’s. Due to falling numbers, the church closed and it is said that in order to avoid payment of rates, the roof was removed and the church soon became a ruin.
Cemetery[edit]
Although the Abbey is thought to date from the 1100s, of the 130 or so memorials within the grounds of Selskar Abbey, just 11 predate the construction of the modern Church of Ireland Church in c.1818-1826.
Two notable exceptions are that of a stone casket of the period 1200-1400 ,which lies within the footprint of the Abbey itself, and a worn plaque set into the wall of the tower dedicated to members of the Stafford family dated 1622.
The oldest surviving grave marker dates from c.1739. It is believed that the more ancient monuments to the abbots/prelates/priors of the original monastery would have been destroyed by Oliver Cromwell’s army in 1649 or by the subsequent governors. Amongst those interred here are a casualty of the 1798 rebellion, an army captain who fought under The Duke of Wellington in the Napoleonic Wars, and the family of the victim of Canada’s only ever political assassination Thomas D’Arcy McGee.
References[edit]
- ^ Colfer, Billy (2008). Wexford, A Town and its Landscapes. Cork University Press. pp. 52–57. ISBN 978-1859184295.
- ^ Hore, Philip Herbert (1900–1911). History of the town and county of Wexford. London: Elliot Stock. pp. 72–75.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ The Illustrated Dublin Journal. 1862.
{{cite journal}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Ware, Sir James. Dae Praesulibus Hiberniae.
- ^ Cullen, John B (1895). The Ancient Churches of the Town of Wexford. Dublin, Ireland: Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
<gallery> File:Grave of Catherine Dorcas McGee - Selskar Abbey, Wexford.jpg|Grave of Catherine Dorcas McGee - Selskar Abbey, Wexford
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