CHAPTER I.
THE RUINS.
| “Look, stranger; where these stones in ruin lie. Here in the old, grey times a holy thing Rose up—a cloistered pile; but time swept by And smote the sanctuary with his reckless wing.” (From the Swedish, by J. E. D. Bethune.) |
f the many historic ruins which dot our country and attest its former greatness, few attract so much attention, and invite so close a study as our monastic remains, pre-eminent amongst which are those of the ancient historic Abbey of Mellifont. In countless pages of our Annals the name appears. In the records of sieges, battles and insurrections, from the day on which a colony of St. Bernard’s monks from world-famed Clairvaux, came and settled in its tranquil valley, till having passed through many vicissitudes, as an abode of piety and wide-spread beneficence, it became a baronial residence, and finally lost its prestige as the site of a mill, whose remains contrast incongruously with those of such a precious memorial.
And what was Mellifont? It was the first house of the Cistercian Order in Ireland; founded, endowed and enriched by native princes and saintly prelates; the mother of saints and scholars; and at one time, the admiration of our land, as a gem of rare architectural beauty.
Before going back to the shadowy past, let us endeavour to trace amongst its ruins the outlines of the ancient buildings, and to explain the special use and meaning of each in the monastic economy, when white-robed monks trod its cloisters, and knelt and prayed before the altars in its church. Each of the Cistercian churches and monasteries was built upon a uniform plan, with some slight modifications, arising perhaps in all instances from peculiarities of site and local difficulties. Around the whole pile of monastic buildings, and girdling an area of some thirty acres or more, comprising gardens, orchards, meadows, ran a high wall, called the “Enclosure Wall,” which served to isolate the denizens of the cloister, and prevent as far as possible all ingress of the world. Entrance within the precincts of the monastery was obtained through a spacious and lofty gate-house occupied by a trusty Lay-Brother, whose duty it was to receive visitors, and dispense hospitality to the poor and the way-farer; thus he formed a connecting link between his brethren within and the world without, from which they were cut off. Extending on either side of this gate-house, or “Porter’s Lodge,” as it was known in monastic language, was a range of buildings for the exclusive use of strangers of every grade. There were the Hospice proper, an infirmary for the sick poor, with stabling also, in the immediate vicinity, for the horses of travellers:—
“Whoever passed, be it baron or squire,
Was free to call at the abbey and stay;
No guerdon or gift for his lodging pay,
Though he tarried a week with its holy choir.”
The old tower which is passed as one approaches the ruins of Mellifont, was the “Porter’s Lodge,” and right under it ran the avenue which led to the abbey, but which was converted into a mill-race when Mellifont had reached its last stage of degradation. The present road-way was constructed in order to give access to the mill. The remains of old walls can still be traced stretching on both sides of the tower, and prove its ancient purpose in connection with Cistercian usage, as described above. Some gate-houses of Continental monasteries, which have till now subsisted intact from the eleventh or twelfth century, bear a striking resemblance to this one at Mellifont. That of Aiguebelle, in particular, near Grignan, in the Department of Drôme, France, most closely resembles it.
There can be no doubt that a pile of buildings once occupied and enclosed the whole space from the old gateway to the church, forming a rectangle, of which the church was the fourth side. The precise purposes these buildings served at Mellifont can now be only conjectured; for, in different monasteries, local wants determined in a great measure the allocation of this site to uses which varied with the circumstances of each community. That is not, however, to be understood of what are called the “Regular Places;” for these were held to be indispensable, and occupied almost the same position in every monastery. The intervening space here between the gate-house and the church is now covered over with the debris of ancient buildings, which local tradition says once occupied the side of the hill on which, and about where, a few modern cottages now stand.