MY MOST RECENT VISIT TO THE ST MARY'S ABBEY AREA AND CHANCERY STREET [DECEMBER 2022]
The abbey was founded by the Irish king Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid (died 862) in 846, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. It was originally Benedictine, but in 1139 was given by Malachy O'Morga, the legate of the Pope, to monks belonging to the Congregation of Savigny, which in 1147 joined the Cistercian order.
In 1303, a great part of the abbey and church was destroyed by fire but was reconstructed. However, many of the city records in the chancery stored in the abbey were destroyed. The abbey was one of the largest and richest in Ireland at that time. A series of charters and statutes of the Parliament of Ireland increased its liberties, including the right to claim goods salvaged from shipwrecks on the coast of County Dublin, and the right to deal with their lands in territories controlled by the "hostile Irish" without incurring the usual penalties.
In 1316 Robert de Nottingham, then Mayor of Dublin, attacked the abbey where the Earl of Ulster, Richard Óg de Burgh, was visiting. De Burgh was suspected of having brought Edward Bruce, who was then marching on Dublin, to Ireland. Several of de Burgh's men were killed before he was captured, and as the monks were suspected of supporting Bruce, the abbey was laid waste.
In the fifteenth century Walter Champfleur became Abbot of St Mary's in 1467, and held office for more than thirty years. He was a political figure of some importance, due partly to his close association with Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormond, to whom he acted as a political and financial adviser. He was briefly Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland in 1482-3. He died around 1498, much mourned by his Order as an "aged, prudent and learned man".
Silken Thomas started his rebellion of 1534 here, by throwing down his Sword of State.
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 the property was given over to John Travers and the church became an arsenal and part of a quarry. The spacious lands which had been owned by the monks came in time to be let to persons who desired to build residences or places of business thereon.
The abbey was only rediscovered, 7 feet (2 m) underground and underneath a bakery, in the 1880s, by an amateur archaeologist. His findings were publicised by John Thomas Gilbert. Parts of the old adjoining walls can still be seen. The building is now in the care of Heritage Ireland. The Chapter House is ordinarily open to visitors, by descending a stone staircase. In May 2015 the site was closed to the public until further notice.
