St. Mary's Collegiate Church Gowran

About

St. Mary’s Collegiate Church Gowran (Irish: Eaglais Mhuire), also known as the Church of the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption, is a church in the centre of the town of Gowran, County Kilkenny, Ireland. The site is a National Monument in the care of the Gowran Development Association (GDA) and the Office of Public Works (OPW). The church and its family connections have been of huge importance to Gowran and further afield over the centuries. The church is a collegiate church, which means that the priests or chaplains attached to it lived in community together. The present church was not a monastery or an abbey; however experts believe the church was built on the site of an earlier monastery. The presence of an Ogham stone on the site, which is on display in the chancel, suggests there was a place of worship here dating back 2000 years to Celtic times or beyond.

In 1312 A.D. Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and Lord Deputy of Ireland made a binding agreement before the Kings Justice in Dublin with the Dean and Chapter of St Canice's Cathedral in Kilkenny to financially support four priests in St. Mary’s Church Gowran to celebrate masses forever, for himself, his wife Joan, his son, James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormonde, his daughters and his ancestors living and dead.

The oldest inscribed monument in the church is the Christianised Ogham Stone from the 3rd or 4th century, which was found on the site during the rebuilding of the chancel in 1826. The Gowran Ogham Stone was used as a building stone in another part of the Church and lay undisturbed for centuries.

The Ogham stones were grave stones or memorials. The one in Gowran is a freestone or grit block: about 1.5 m (60 in) tall, 380 mm (15 in) across the face, and 30 mm (1.2 in) thick. Canon Carrigan gives Fr. Edmund Barry's reading as "DALO MAQA MUCOI MAQUI-ERACIAS MAQI LI", that is, "Dalach, grandson, of Mac-Eirche, who was son of Lia". The stone was Christianised (a Christian cross was carved on the stone) about the 6th century.

- 3rd/4th Century: Ogham stone. The presence of this Christianised Ogham stone suggests that this site was a site of worship in pre-Christian times, before St. Patrick arrived in Ireland in 432 A.D.

- 455 A.D. St. Patrick visits Gowran and builds churches in the area. Rev. John Francis Shearman on his book Loca Patriciana, published in 1879, detailing the travels of St. Patrick in Leinster and Ossory, makes several references to St. Patrick travelling through Belach Gabhrán (Old name for Gowran). Fr. Shearman says the first church was connected with the saint of Gowran, Saint Lochan, whose feast day is 31 December. St. Lochan was a son of Congall, son of Eirce, whose family history is given in Ossorian Geonology. A relation of Eirce is commemorated on the Gowran Ogham Stone.

- 1163 There is further evidence of a church on this site before the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. Dermot O Ryan, Chief of Idrone, made a grant of land for the foundation of the Cistercian Abbey of Killenny, De Valle Dei (the Valley of God). Killenny is about a mile and a half from Goresbridge on the Mount Loftus – Graiguenamanagh road. Laurence O Toole, Archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Mac Murrough, King of Leinster, Donagh Bishop of Leighlin, Felix O Dulaney, Abbot of the Cistersians in Ossory, and many nobles of south Leinster signed the document at Gowran.

- 1218 Ralph (Radoulfus) was portrieve (priest) of Gowran before 1218. He was influential in the Diocese of Ossory. A monument to commemorate Radoulfus is on display in the chancel. He is depicted on the monument wearing his priestly vestments.

- 1225 An early church was built with a square tower in the centre. This is believed to be the only church in Ireland from that period with a tower in the centre.

- 1421 Edward Bruce attacked the town of Gowran and further damaged the Church. The Pope granted Indulgences to those who, for the following ten years, gave alms for the repair and conservation of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin of Ballygowran (old name for Gowran). The height of the old tower was increased by adding the upper stories of the belfry to the tower. The tower was strengthened by building another layer of stone to the base on the north wall, which now slopes outwards at the base. The wall of the old tower and that of the new addition can be seen from the inside of the tower when looking up at the north wall. Buttresses were added to the nave.

- 1541 During the reign of King Henry the eight in England the religious practice in the church changed from Catholic to Reformed, more commonly known as Protestant or, in the case of St. Mary’s Church, the Church of Ireland. The church was used for worship by the Church of Ireland community until the 1970s.

- 1700 The second half of the 1700s saw a period of decline in the built heritage of Ireland, with many of the landlords becoming absentee landlords and the aristocracy moving to England. Gowran Castle (the second castle, which was built in 1713; the first castle was built by James Butler third Earl of Ormonde in 1385. This James Butler is buried in St. Mary’s Church), which close to the church, also fell into dereliction. A 1791 picture of the church from the book Grose’s Antiquities of Ireland shows the south wall of the nave still standing but in disrepair, with heavy growth of ivy covering the walls.

- 19th century: From the start of 1800s, this decline was reversed. The century saw the start of major improvements to the built heritage of Gowran. Many new houses in the town, like the Shamrock Cottages and Dovers Row, were built.

- 1826 A new Chancel was rebuilt in St Mary’s Church to the designs of the Kilkenny architect of the period William Robertson who also designed the nearby Gowran Castle and most of the standing Kilkenny Castle we see today.

- 1850s The coming of the railway to Gowran and the construction of railway buildings were significant events in the area.

- 1881 George Ashlin modelled his plan for the Catholic Church of the Assumption Gowran on the nave of St. Mary’s Church. The Roman Catholic Church was built and in 1881 dedicated by Dr. Moran Bishop of Ossory, who had Gowran connections.

- 1960s The upper floor of the tower and the wall surrounding the top of the tower were reinstated.

- 1970s Church of Ireland worship finishes. Use of the church for service ended in the 1970s, bringing to an end over 700 years of worship in the church. The church was taken over by the OPW. A bust of James Agar and a holy water font, known as the Gowran Holy Water Font, which were in the church before it closed, were taken to St. Laserian’s Church in Old Leighlin, County Carlow, Ireland.

- 1988 The Gowran Development Association was founded. One of its aims was to enhance and develop St. Mary’s Church and surrounds.

- 1992-1995 Restoration of the boundary wall surrounding the graveyard was completed by the Gowran Development Association with support from the Fas (now Intreo) community employment scheme (CE scheme).