Praying in Ordinary Time 2021: 98, Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford

Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford, was founded in the 1180s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Before the day gets busy, I am taking a little time this morning for prayer, reflection and reading. Each morning in the time in the Church Calendar known as Ordinary Time, I am reflecting in these ways:

1, photographs of a church or place of worship;

2, the day’s Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

My theme this week is Benedictine (including Cistercian) foundations. My photographs this morning (4 September 2021) are from Dunbrody Abbey in Co Wexford.

Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford, was known as the Abbey of Saint Mary de Port (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Dunbrody Abbey, near Arthurstown, on the Hook Peninsula, Co Wexford, dates from 1170 and a grant of land by Herve de Montmorency, Strongbow’s uncle. It was founded in 1182 and completed ca 1220, although additions continued for some time.

Herve de Montmorency offered a grant of the lands to the Cistercian monks of Buildwas in Shropshire. But the Abbot of Buildwas turned down the offer, and the property was then offered to Saint Mary’s Abbey, Dublin. The Cistercians of Saint Mary’s sent a community to the site in 1182.

John O’Heyne was sent as the first abbot with 12 monks from Saint Mary’s, and the abbey was confirmed by Pope Lucius III (1181-1185). However, two or three decades passed before the monks began building the church in stone.

The abbey was dedicated to Sain Mary the ever-Blessed Virgin, and Saint Benedict, but was also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary de Port, for its status as a place of sanctuary and refuge. Herve de Montmorency died at Dunbrody Abbey in 1205 at the age of 75, and was buried there.

The spacious, cruciform, early Gothic church was built ca 1210-1240, and the tower was added in the 15th century. The church was 59 metres in length and one of the longest in Ireland.

The abbey flourished for several centuries, but not without problems. In 1355, the Abbot of Dunbrody, William de Ross, and Adam and Hugh Barry, monks, were indicted for imprisoning Thomas Herlyn, a monk of Tintern, and stealing two of his horses worth 40 shillings. They also expelled Thomas de Wiggemore, Abbot of Tintern, and robbed him of three horses to the value of eight marks. However, they were acquitted.

David Esmond, a commissioner of Richard II, sent to investigate extortion in Wexford, was captured by the monks of Dunbrody in 1390 and imprisoned for 16 days. He was released after swearing he would not prosecute any of the monks for these proceedings.

Thomas Comerford of Waterford was involved with John Ball, Thomas Sutton, Nich[olas] Furlong, William Roberston Sutton, and William Davidson Sutton of Co Wexford, ‘with divers others unknown’ in capturing Thomas Hore, Abbot of Dunbrody, Co Wexford, in 1449, on the night before he was due to travel to Parliament. They took the abbot as a prisoner to Waterford, and captured his goods and chattels valued at £40.

The cruciform church has a nave, side aisles, north and south transepts, and choir. Each transept has three chapels, and apartments were formed in the roofs over the chapels in the transepts.

The nave was separated from the aisles by an arcade of five bays. In the north aisle are four large buttresses. The nave was lit by a row of clerestory windows and also three lights that formed the large west window.

The abbey’s decline started during the Tudor Reformation. Alexander Devereux, the last Abbot of Dunbrody, became Bishop of Ferns in 1539 and in 1542 he granted to the king, his heirs and successors, the abbey and all its possessions. The abbey was then plundered, and the lead from the roof was melted down, using the wood from the roof.

The lands and abbey then came into the possession of Sir Osborne Etchingham, who converted the abbey into a Tudor mansion in 1546-1547. A century later, Jane Etchingham, the heiress, married Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall, and their descendants inherited the lands.

In the 1640s, Patrick Everard, a Waterford Cistercian, was appointed titular Abbot of Dunbrody in a bull issued by Pope Urban VIII. That appointment was entrusted to him by Patrick Comerford, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

However, it is unlikely Everard ever managed to take physical possession of Dunbrody – it remained with the Etchingham family, while Everard served out his days as Parish Priest of Ballyhack, Co Wexford, where he was visited by Cardinal Rinucinni, and died of the plague in neighbouring Duncannon in 1650.

Dunbrody House was built by Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester (1775-1819), a younger son of the 1st Marquis and 5th Earl of Donegall, who inherited Dunbrody, as we all as extensive family estates in Staffordshire that included Fisheriwck and Comberford Hall, along with 20,000 acres in Co Donegal.

His gambling debts soon caught up on him, and in 1801, he sold part of his lands in Lichfield, Alrewas, Whittington, Wichnor, Comberford, Coton, Tamworth and Hopwas, to the Lane family of King’s Bromley. By 1805, he was seeking legal opinion on his title to the Manor of Comberford and Wigginton. Eventually, he was forced to sell Fisherwick, where the great house was demolished, and Comberford Hall.

It is surprising how the family managed to hold on to Dunbrody in Co Wexford. Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester built Dunbrody House as a country house, and at times it has been known as Dunbrody Park or Harriet’s Lodge, named after his wife, Lady Anne Harriet Stewart. He had built Dunbrody House before he died in Paris 200 years ago on 22 February 1819.

The south arcade of Dunbrody Abbey and the wall of the south aisle fell in a storm on Christmas Eve 1852. The Chichester family transferred the abbey to the Office of Public Works in 1911, and it continues to be maintained by the OPW.

Dunbrody House was renovated in 1999-2001 and is now a luxury boutique country house hotel, owned and operated by Kevin and Catherine Dundon. What remains of the Dunbrody Estate is, however, still owned by the present Lord Donegall, who lives at Dunbrody Park within the estate grounds. The visitor centre at Dunbrody Abbey has one of only two full-size hedge mazes in Ireland.

Dunbrody Abbey gives its name to the Dunbrody famine ship on the Quay in New Ross, one of the major tourist attractions in Co Wexford, and this in turn gives its name to the eye-catching Dunbrody Inn on the Quay.

The lands and estates at Dunbrody were owned by the Etchingham and Chichester families from the mid-16th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Luke 6: 1-5 (NRSVA):

1 One sabbath while Jesus was going through the cornfields, his disciples plucked some heads of grain, rubbed them in their hands, and ate them. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, ‘Why are you doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ 3 Jesus answered, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and gave some to his companions?’ 5 Then he said to them, ‘The Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’

Dunbrody House is now a luxury boutique country house hotel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Prayer in the USPG Prayer Diary today (4 September 2021) invites us to pray:

We pray for dialogue and compassion in Brazil as political divisions continue to cause conflict and discrimination.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

The Dunbrody Famine Ship on the Quays in New Ross, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Dunbrody Abbey also gives its name to the eye-catching Dunbrody Inn on the Quay, New Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Dunbrody House and the MP who gambled away Comberford Hall

Magnolias provide a spring-time welcome at Dunbrody (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

The Dunbrody famine ship on the Quay in New Ross is one of the major tourist attractions in Co Wexford, and also gives its name to the eye-catching Dunbrody Inn on the Quay.

But few visitors to New Ross probably realise that both take their name from Dunbrody Park, a few miles further south on the Hook Peninsula. I was also interested in calling in to see Dunbrody when I was in the area earlier in March because of the interesting link between this house and Comberford Hall.

‘Three knocks are always heard at Comberford Hall before the death of a family member.’ This is one of the many vignettes and stories from history and folklore recorded by Kate Gomez in her recent book, The Little Book of Staffordshire (Stroud: The History Press, 2017).

The story was first recorded, as far as I know, in 1686 by the 17th century historian Robert Plot (1640-1696), of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, who records this superstition about ‘the knocking before the death of any of ... the family of Cumberford of Cumberford in this County; three knocks being always heard at Cumberford-Hall before the decease of any of that family, tho’ the party dyeing be at never so great a distance.’

The Chichester family’s coat-of-arms above the main door at Dunbrody (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The knock came at the door of Comberford Hall for George Augustus Chichester, when he risked his inheritance through his gambling addictions. To pay off his debts, her married the illegitimate daughter of a moneylender, and Fisherwick Hall was inherited instead by his brother Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester.

The Manors of Comberford and Wigginton, including lands in Hopwas and Coton, were bought 230 years ago in 1789 by Arthur Chichester (1739-1799), 5th Earl of Donegall. Within a year, Lord Donegall had raised £20,000 from the banker Henry Hoare, using the manors and lands of Comberford and Wigginton as collateral security.

Eventually, however, the Chichester family, would be crippled by the gambling debts of a profligate son, they found it impossible to pay off this loan, and they were be forced to sell Comberford Hall and the manorial rights and lands that went with it.

Arthur Chichester was educated at Eton and Oxford, and became the 1st Marquess of Donegall in 1791. Through the properties he inherited from his father, he was the greatest landowner of his day in Ireland. His estates included 11,000 acres at Dunbrody, Co Wexford, almost 90,000 acres in Co Antrim, 160,000 acres in Co Donegal, the whole town of Belfast, and the townland of Ballynafeigh in Co Down, totalling over quarter of a million acres.

However, he never lived on his Irish estates. Instead, Donegall made his principal residence in Staffordshire, tearing down the Skeffington family’s old Tudor manor house at Fisherwick, close to Comberford, replacing it with a vast Palladian mansion set in a park of 4,000 acres, all designed and constructed by Capability Brown. At Fisherwick, he also collected an expensive library and rare specimens of natural history.

Lord Donegall is said to have rebuilt Comberford Hall, replacing the original half-timbered Tudor manor house dating back to the late 15th century, at the same time as he rebuilt neighbouring Fisherwick Hall. However, Mrs Valerie Coltman, who lived at Comberford Hall, told me she believes it is more likely that Comberford Hall was rebuilt more than 70 years earlier in 1720.

Lord Donegall also gave his name to Donegal House on Bore Street, Lichfield, although Donegal House was built in 1730 by a local merchant James Robinson.

The Staffordshire historian Stebbing Shaw notes in 1798 that Lord Donegall was still Lord of Comberford Manor, along with Wigginton, Hopwas, Horton, Tynmore and Fisherwick.

Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester (1775-1819) … built Dunbrody House as he was about to lose Comberford Hall

Donegall died in 1799, and Comberford Hall and his other Staffordshire estates, including Fisherwick, now heavily mortgaged, passed to a younger son, Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester (1775-1819), who also inherited Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford, along with a townhouse in Saint James’s Square, London, 20,000 acres on the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal, the townland of Ballymacarrett in Co Down, the lands through which the newly-built Lagan Canal passed, and the family’s Gainsborough portraits.

Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester was born on 20 April 1775. He was 20 when he married Lady Harriet Stewart (ca 1770-1850), a daughter of the Earl of Galloway, on 8 August 1795.

But by then, Lord Spencer Chichester’s gambling debts were catching up on him. In 1801, he sold some of his lands in Lichfield, Alrewas, Whittington, Wichnor, Comberford, Coton, Tamworth and Hopwas, to the Lane family of King’s Bromley.

Through his brother’s patronage, he became the MP for Carrickfergus, Co Antrim in 1802, although he continued to live at the family house at Fisherwick, which was left to him by his father. By 1805, he was seeking legal opinion on his title to the Manor of Comberford and Wigginton. Eventually, he was forced to sell Fisherwick, where the great house was demolished.

He was re-elected for Carrickfergus in 1806, although he had been asked to stand for Co Wexford. However, he resigned from Westminster in March 1807, and appears to have spent the rest of his days on the estates he had inherited in Co Wexford. His mortgages on Comerford Hall were foreclosed in 1809, and it passed to the Peel family.

If Chichester’s profligacy lost his family Comberford Hall and their other estates near Lichfield and Tamworth in Staffordshire, it is surprising how they managed to hold on to Dunbrody in Co Wexford. Lord Spencer Stanley Chichester built Dunbrody House as a country house, and at times it has been known as Dunbrody Park or Harriet’s Lodge, named after his wife, Lady Anne Harriet Stewart.

He had built Dunbrody House before he died in Paris 200 years ago on 22 February 1819.

Dunbrody House remained in the Chichester family for almost 200 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Dunbrody House is a nine-bay, two-storey country house with a dormer attic, built on an E-shaped plan with two-bay two-storey advanced end bays centred on a single-bay two-storey breakfront, originally single-bay three-storey on a rectangular plan. It was partially rebuilt in 1909-1910.

The house has a deliberate alignment, maximising the scenic vistas overlooking gently rolling grounds, with Waterford Harbour as a backdrop. It has a near-symmetrical frontage centred, on a truncated breakfront. The diminishing scale of the windows on each floor produces a graduated visual impression and the decorative timber work embellishes the roofline.

The architectural historian Bence-Jones says it has the appearance of a 20th-century house with a vaguely ‘Queen Anne’ flavour.

The house was inherited by his eldest son, who became Lord Templemore, and the house and title passed through successive generations to Dermot Richard Claud Chichester (1916-2007), 5th Baron Templemore.

During World War II, as a captain with a cavalry regiment, he was reported missing in action and was believed to have been killed in action. He had been captured in Libya in November 1942 during the North African Campaign, and he remained a prisoner of war in Italy until he escaped in June 1944. He was promoted major that year. His elder brother, Arthur, was been killed in 1942 when he was an officer in the Coldstream Guards.

Dermot Chichester succeeded his father as the 5th Baron Templemore in 1953. In 1975, he also succeeded a distant cousin to become the 7th Marquess of Donegall, being the descendant of the 1st Baron Templemore, grandson of Arthur Chichester, 1st Marquess of Donegall.

Dunbrody House is now a luxury boutique country house hotel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

He continued to live at Dunbrody House and died on 19 April 2007. His titles then passed to his son, Patrick Chichester. But by then Dunbrody had been sold in 1996. The house was renovated in 1999-2001, and is now a luxury boutique country house hotel. It was named Luxury Country House of the Year in 2016.

Dunbrody House is now owned and operated by Kevin and Catherine Dundon, and the Blue Book country house has scooped international accolades for its ‘authentic charm, relaxed ambiance and top class dining experience.’

Dunbrody House is known for its fine food and a friendly, relaxed service combined with luxury accommodation. Set in 300 acres of parkland on the Hook Peninsula, it also offers a cookery school with a range of courses, a luxury boutique Spa, a Sunday market, Sunday Jazz brunch and a traditional Irish pub, ‘The Local.’

The Dunbrody Famine Ship on the Quays in New Ross, Co Wexford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)