AN ANGL0-NORMAN MONASTERY – Bridgetown Priory and the architecture of the Augustinian canons regular in Ireland

by Tadhg O'Keeffe

ISBN 978 0946641 802   160 pages (hardback)    30x24cm     148 illus     

Bridgetown Priory in north Co Cork was founded by an Anglo Norman lord, Alexander fitz Hugh, nearly 800 years ago. For more than three centuries it was both residence and place of worship for Augustinian canons regualar – priests who lived in community. Although in ruins, the priory buildings still communicate to us a sense of the daily ritual of the monastic clerics at Bridgetown during the Anglo Norman period, and its architecture remains a fine testimony to the skill of its stone masons.

This monograph is an integrated study of the architecture, history and archaeology of Bridgetown Priory, based on research carried out under the auspices of Cork County Council, the guardians of this historic site. The architecture of other monasteries of Augustinian canons regular in medieval Ireland is also discussed. The book is comprehensively illustrated with specially commissioned photographs and drawings of Bridgetown and the other Augustinian monasteries in Ireland.