Crossmolina.ie

Tradition has it that Errew was erected by the Barretts on the site of an earlier church. Strength is added to this tradition by the burial there of Bishop Thomas Barrett of Elphin in 1404. The Barrett building was for the Augustinians and would date after 1235; which is the approximate time the Barretts arrived here. A visit to the tip of Errew peninsula will reveal the great extent of the original monastery. Traces of buildings cover a wide area and the Barrett building has left a fairly good ruin, considering its age. The extent of this edifice inside is approximately 90' x "22 1/2'. On the East gable is a beautiful ornamental window of cut stone. On the north side-wall near the east gable is a small circular door of cut stone about 4' high and 3' broad. Near the east gable on the same side-wall is a window, circular at the top, about 21/2' high and a half-foot broad.

On the south side-wall near the east gable there is another window of cut stone. All other features of the Abbey have suffered from erosion and the "hands of time". The use of uncut stone in the walls make the building look a little crude, but it is very solid and durable. Also on the site is the tiny "nuns chapel" situated north of the Abbey ruins. The foundation in the small building is approximately seven yards in length and three and a half yards in breadth. It also is obviously of a very great age, contemporary with the original building. A family called O'Flynn were erenachs of the church-lands at Errew and they came into the possession of a famous relic from the Abbey called the "MiasTighemain". A legend, quoted in the 0.S. Letters has it that the relic lay at the bottom of Loch Conn for centuries before it floated to the surface. A singular account of this antique relic is found in an extract from an old copy of the 'Ballina Impartial', where it is described as resembling a large plate and being made of several thin pieces of copper riveted together at the edges, and on the back of which there is a slender cross of the same material while in front there is another of silver, richly carved and projecting from a rim of silver in the centre, about one inch in height. This rim encircles a small cup of copper with the bottom upwards, within which there is a small relic or some other article enclosed. In the compartment formed by the cross there are beryls of two silver rings. One of them is still set with a large piece of amber, the other setting has since fallen out.

Centuries later, in a time of scarcity, in return for some provisions, an O'Flynn pledged it to a Mr. Knox of Rappa Castle and never recovered it. The dish came to be used by Knox's tenants for the purpose of taking oaths and before the establishment of the police Mr. Knox found it an efficient peacemaker and powerful way of establishing the truth. The people became accustomed to being asked to swear on the dish and believed if they swore a false oath they would lose the sight of one eye. (Was this because maybe an eye was missing on the dish or may be the missing amber?) A strange story retailed in the O.S. Letters about the time when some people were asked to take an oath to clear themselves on a charge of sheep stealing. Many people were innocent of the charge but when those who were guilty had to swear on the dish the wool which was taken from the stolen sheep was seen growing from under the guilty women's arms, and the lambs belonging to these sheep were heard bleating under the men's arms. Around 1822 to 1824, Dean Lyons found people still swearing on the dish and confiscated it. He published a description of it and its use and then returned it to Mr. Knox asking him not to allow it to be used for superstitious purposes. After Mr. Knox's death the dish was auctioned in London with the rest of his plates.

In 1413 McWattin Barrett violated the sanctuary of Errew to seize Henry Barrett who had taken refuge there. St. Tighernain, the original founder, is said to have appeared to McWattin every night until he promised to make amends for the desecration. This he did by giving the abbey an eric of quarter of land at Ballinabraher - (Friarstown, near Cloghans on the other side of the lake). Hence the name Friarstown, which is still found there today. This episode establishes that the monastery was still flourishing at that date. It seems to be still 'Live' in 1463. Archdall has it that "in the year 1463 an act passed enabling the friars of Errew in Connaught to receive the sum of 5/- annually out of the lands of Ballyrnoy". But we wonder how much longer it continued to live, and for this reason. In the remainder of that century the other abbeys of the diocese were all mentioned in the Papal Letters and elsewhere but there is silence about Errew. An argument from silence is not probative but when we find that Errew had a 'vicarage of the parish church of Errew' in the late fifteenth century, and that this was held by secular priests, we wonder whether the Errew community still existed. There is no ruin of a parish church in Errew and the monastery church may have been used as such. True, the abbey had lands confiscated by Queen Elizabeth, but it would not follow that it was occupied then, still less that it was flourishing. It is known that many of the ancient abbeys were in decay at the time of the dissolution.