Mayo
Abbey
A History of Mayo
Abbey
Ancient Capital of County
Mayo, Ireland
General
Introduction
Mayo Abbey as a traceable community, was already three
hundred years old when Viking Dublin was founded.
St Colman
 The
history of Mayo begins with the Synod of Whitby in 664, to
resolve the conflict between the Celts and the Romans on the
date of Easter. Having lost the debate St Colman left
Lindisfarne and returned to Iona, later going to Innisboffin
and from there to Maigh Eo, later to become known as Mayo of
the Saxons.
At the time when St Colman founded Mayo, Ireland was
divided into 100 Tuaths (Kingdoms). St Colman was probably a
nobleman of Canmaicne. On leaving Innisboffin following a
split between the Irish and Saxon monks he was given a site
by the king. This was probably a sparsely populated area
close to the border of another kingdom, as it happened Mayo
was situated on the north of Canmaicne where it bordered the
kingdoms of Cera and Magcaeir.
When St Colman came to Mayo he brought with him half the
relics of Lindisfarne, including a part of the true cross
which was reputed to be in Mayo Abbey till the Reformation
in 1537, when it vanished.
The first mentiion of Mayo is in Bede's "History of the
English people" in the 10th century.
The Church laws - Lex Innoncentium - by which women were
forbidden to take part in the dangers of battle are reputed
to be written by Adamnan while in Mayo in 696 - 97.
Adamnan's well is still in use today.
The foundation developed links in its first 300 years
with Scotland, England, The Lowlands and Germany.
 First
Millennium
By the end of the first millennium, it was an urban
community of an estimated 3,000 people with an interactive
rural hinterland and a European presence of some importance,
both ecclesiastically, with it's monks ranked sixth in
importance at the synods of Canterbury, and politically, as
noted in the correspondence between it and the Court of
Charlemagne King of the Franks and Holy Roman Emperor (768 -
814) in Aachen. Alcuin the English translator to Charlemagne
sought advice from the monks of Mayo on the ecclesiastical
reforms of the 770's.
Photo shows 10th Century
grave slab believed to be from a bishops grave.
Mayo became a diocese in 1152 and survived till it's
union with Tuam in 1631. Bishop Patrick O'Healy who, with Fr
Con O'Rourke, was captured by the British in Limerick on
their way to Mayo and executed for the faith in Limerick in
1570. They were beatified in 1994. The last Bishop of Mayo
was Adam Maguran who went to Nantes in France on unification
of the two diocese. Mayo of the Saxons was a place of
learning equal to that of Augsburg and Regensburg and others
of the period in mainland Europe.
1176 - Donal, brother of Rory O'Connor, last High King of
Ireland died and is buried in Mayo Abbey. In 1400 it became
an Augustinian Abbey with approx 4,000 acres of land.
In 1619 King James 1 granted a licence to John and Sarah
Paulette to distill and sell uisce beaha (whiskey) in
the barony of Clanmorris and the County of Mayo. This
business is still carried on today in Byrne's pub.
During the penal times the lands were owned by various
landlords; Brownes of Brownhall, Blakes of Ballinafad,
Kirwans of Galway. During this period the parishioners
openly worshipped in defiance of the law inside a church on
the site of the Famine church - a 19th century building
which is one of few unaltered pre-famine churches in the
country.
Second Millennium
At the start of the second millennium the course of Irish
history changed with the Battle of Clontarf and the defeat
of the Vikings. At that time in Europe the Irish were the
first people to introduce surnames.
The town of Mayo flourished till the 16th century, when
like other towns outside the Pale it declined, but enough
remained for Sir Henry Sidney who divided Connaught into
counties to name the county of Mayo after the town of Mayo
in 1570.
The names of many of the early Saints appear in the
Annals as having studied at, or visited Mayo of the
Saxons.
When one looks at Mayo Abbey today all one sees is the
ruins of a 15th century monastery. Though now a rural
community with an Archaeological site of national and
international importance Mayo Abbey has been fortunate in
that it has laid undisturbed for over 1300 years and is now
classed as an Archaeological goldmine by experts in that
field.
The old graveyard is a layered graveyard and is in
continuous use for over 1300 years.
Mayo Abbey also posesses one of the oldest pub licences
in the country.
|
