The Conservation of the remains of St. Michael's Medieval Cemetery

It is wonderful to see the long overdue work on the medieval church in St. Michael’s Cemetery which started some weeks ago. Revamp Conservation are the contractors and as historical building specialists they have been engaged by Kildare County Council to preserve this important medieval building. What faces the workmen here in St. Michaels is a 13th century church building which has been in ruins for centuries but which with the White Castle and Woodstock Castle form a trio of priceless medieval buildings. The late John Bradley with Andrew Halpin and Heather King carried out an Urban Archaeological Survey throughout the county of Kildare at the request of the Office of Public Works in the 1980s and writing of St. Michael’s Church noted, ‘The Church of St. Michaels was in existence by 1297, although there was no indication that it had the status of a parish church at that time.’ There are different views expressed by historians as to when and how parishes were established in Ireland. Some claim that they evolved in the second half of the 12th century and throughout much of the 13th century when Dioceses were established following the Synod of Rath Breasail in 1111 and the Synod of Kells 41 years later. Prior to those Synods the Gaelic Church was based on a monastic system of organisation and was in a somewhat distant communion with Rome. We do know that the introduction into Ireland from abroad by the Anglo-Norman settlers of religious orders such as the Crouched Friars and the Dominicans gave the new settlement on the river Barrow ford two monasteries. Located on opposite banks of the river Barrow the Friars served the religious needs of the Catholic French speaking settlers. The Gaelic speaking Irish natives who were part of an Irish church were I surmise not catered for by the local monasteries. There had been no urban settlement and no church in the area prior to the arrival of the Anglo Normans following the issuing of a papal approval to Henry II of England to conquer Ireland. St. Michael’s Church was built outside the newly created village of Athy some distance from the village which was centred around the Anglo-Norman fortification of Woodstock. John Bradley and his colleagues claimed that ‘Athy is unusual as an Anglo-Norman town, having its parish church located outside the wall.’ In referring to St. Michael’s Church as ‘a parish church’ the archaeologists appear to have overlooked their earlier claim that it did not appear to have the status of a parish church. My own belief is that the native Gaelic speaking Catholic Irish who came to serve the Anglo Norman Lord of Woodstock Manor, built or had built for themselves St. Michael’s, while the two monasteries catered exclusively for the Anglo-Norman settlers. Was St. Michaels’ Church ever Athy’s parish church? Further research is required to answer this question but it seems reasonable to assume that it was at some stage. The Crouched Friars abandoned their monastery prior to the Reformation and the Dominicans were expelled from their extensive monastery in 1539. Catholic monasteries were seized and assigned in many cases to private individuals but humble Catholic churches such as St. Michaels would have held no interest for Henry VIII so would have continued to be used as a Catholic church. The church was described as being in good repair in 1615 and 1630 but in 1657 the Kildare inquisition found the church ‘to be out of repair’. Subscriptions for repairing the church were collected in 1677 and it may be assumed that St. Michael’s continued to be used for several years thereafter. Everything changed in the post 1691 years with the enactment of the penal laws. Churches were closed and undoubtedly fell into disuse and St. Michael’s Church was thereafter vacant as the local Anglican community built their own church in the back square in and around 1682. We can safely say that during the early years of the penal laws the small church of St. Michael’s was not in use. As local enforcement of the penal laws relaxed during the latter part of the 18th century a limited and discreet practice of the Catholic religion commenced. In a report of the State of Popery in 1731 it was recorded Athy had one mass house with two priests and no popish school. The mass house, as the Catholic church was called, had been built at some stage during the reign of George I between 1714 and 1729. This I believe was the thatched church located in Chapel Lane in what is now a car park. It was destroyed as a result of an arson attack following the 1798 rebellion for which the Parish Priest, Fr. Maurice Keegan, sought and obtained compensation to help finance the building of a new parish church. That was the parish church local people attended up to 1960. The ruined church of St. Michael’s lies within the graveyard of St. Michaels. It’s a plain rectangular building constructed of uncoursed mixed rubble. Internally there is no evidence of a division between nave and chancel. The building deteriorated over the centuries and regrettably few of its original features have survived. Nevertheless, the building’s history shows it to be an important part of Athy’s story. St. Michael’s is worthy of preservation, as indeed are its medieval contemporaries Woodstock Castle and the White Castle. As I write this I am not aware when the work will be completed but wouldn’t it be wonderful if on completion mass could be celebrated in the medieval church of St. Michael’s for perhaps the first time in almost 300 years.