Islands of Ireland: Friar's Island in Co Tipperary no longer exists — but the oratory was saved
Stretch of the River Shannon near Ballina, County Tipperary where the now-submerged Friar's Island once welcomed pilgrims. Picture: Dan MacCarthy
One of several islands of the same name, this Friar’s Island has a distinctive difference from the others... it no longer exists. Where Friar’s Island in Lough Leane in Killarney is nestled discreetly in a corner of the famous lake and evokes images of monks at prayer or scribes at work on manuscripts, County Tipperary's Friar’s Island can not really be said to evoke anything as it does not exist. It did once exist of course, but in 1929 when the ESB began construction of the Shannon Scheme including the electricity generating station at Ardnacrusha, Friar’s Island disappeared beneath the waters of the River Shannon.
The scheme presented a rather large problem with the presence of an important part of our medieval church history in the form of the oratory of St Lua or Molua. After much head-scratching and consultation it was decided to remove the oratory and rebuild it nearby in the grounds of St Flannan’s Church, Killaloe. All the stones were numbered and the church was reassembled there in 1930. As the waters of the river gradually rose because of the construction of the dam the placid island was engulfed. Friar’s Island ceased to be.
St Molua chose this unusual place to found his monastery in the sixth century. That was replaced with a stone church in the 11th century. Pilgrims used to visit the island annually on August 4 until the construction of the dam. The early ordnance survey maps clearly show the two-acre Friar’s Island, less than 1km downstream from Ballina, County Tipperary. In those maps, it is separated by a channel from the riverbank on the Tipperary side. After 1930, that channel was filled in and the island part-subsumed to the riverbank and part-submerged. The map clearly shows St Molua’s church as well as a holy well.
An excavation carried out in 1929 revealed some interesting finds including a grave with 11 skeletons, presumably of the monks. Six were in perfect condition. The archaeologists also drew a comparison with the triangular, (rather than arched) roof of the oratory and the roof of the church on MacDara’s Island, County Galway. They also suggest that an unusually placed door was to allow ingress for the occupants of wooden huts which in turn suggests a more expansive population on the island. Another interesting observation is that the church was built from yellow limestone and not the gritstone found on the island.
Chief archaeologist, R Macalister, inferred that the stone to build the church as well as surrounding walls was floated over to the island rafts supported by air bladders of the type used in the cradle of civilisation, the Euphrates (in modern-day Iraq). As these would have been very difficult to unload on the fast-flowing Shannon a type of dock was constructed to allow for this. He also wrote that if there was a previous name for Friar’s Island it has been lost.
One of Macalister’s most interesting observations was that the chancel of the church was built with especially thick walls, almost like a fortress. He suggests that this was to defend against other Viking raids that had struck elsewhere on the Shannon and most famously at Skellig Michael.
We have several other sunken islands including at Lough Currane, County Kerry and County Wexford. Further upstream on the River Shannon several islands have coalesced north of Portumna, County Galway, where the intriguing-sounding Cromwell’s Island once existed.
The oratory at Friar’s Island is not unique in having been moved. Many monuments worldwide have been moved for a variety of reasons. Among the most famous is the Temple of Dendur in Egypt. That small structure was dismantled brick by brick as it would have been flooded by the construction of the Aswan Dam in 1960 and rebuilt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a token of thanks to the US for helping in saving that and other monuments.
: There is a plaque in a small park beside the river about 1km south of Ballina.
: The Church of St Lua, or Molua, Friar's Island, County Tipperary, HG Leask, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol 20, no 2
