Features of the Monastery Plan

The East Range contained the most important apartments such as the sacristy next to the church choir, the chapter house, parlour, scriptorium and calefactory (warming room) on ground floor level with the dormitory on the floor above. The latrines (the domus necessarium) were normally placed at the south end of this range projecting eastwards from it. The ambulatory which ran along this range and off which the doorways to the principal apartments opened, was known as the processional way and along this the monks entered the church in procession on ceremonial occasions. Two other important passages were the night stairs leading from the north end of the dormitory to the church choir and the day stairs leading to the dormitory and usually placed at the south end of the range. Finally, a passage way or slype is invariably present in the east range leading to the monks' cemetery and infirmary, both of which tended to lie east of the claustral precincts.

There were two notable structural features in the refectory. Firstly the pulpitum, from which readings were made to the assembled congregation at mealtimes. This is normally seen as a projection of the refectory wall, towards the east end of the building. After the church and chapter house the refectories of the various monasteries tended to be the most elaborate apartments. In addition to the ornate pulpitum they also contained the most impressive array of windows and an ornate doorway situated towards the west end. One can imagine the head table at the east end of the apartment with the pulpitum close by, lancet windows to the south and a procession of monks entering from the cloister ambulatory through the west doorway. The second feature was a laver, a basin, built into the wall close to the doorway of the refectory, where the monks washed their hands on entering the apartment. This can still be seen at monasteries such as Kells, Co. Kilkenny, and Ballybeg, Co. Cork. An alcove beside the refectory door at Bridgetown, Co. Cork, would have contained the laver.

The West Range contained the kitchen and storage area in some of the canons' houses, such as at Molana, Co. Waterford. The lay brothers' dormitory occupied the upper storey in the larger monasteries, for example at Athassel, Kells and Clontuskert. The guest house appears to have been situated at the north end of the west range at Athassel where a room exists with an associated upstairs apartment. The similarity of the west ranges at Kells and Clontuskert with those of Athassel would suggest the same arrangement.

The abbot's place in the monastery

The quarters assigned to the abbot were adjacent to but generally not part of the cloister. In some monasteries it was part of the tower building at the northeast corner of the choir of the church, as at Molana. At Bridgetown it was situated southeast of the cloister and at Ballybeg it was placed west of the cloister. At Canon Island, Co. Clare, the fifteenth-century tower north of the church acted as the abbot's quarters and at Clare Abbey, Co. Clare, a similar tower placed at the crossing of the nave and transepts performed the same function. In many of the monasteries, however, there is no evidence of a separate apartment for the abbot, who would have shared the dormitory and calefactory with the monks. The separate residences are, in all cases, additions of the fifteenth century. Overall, the general impression given is that in the initial period (twelfth-thirteenth century) the abbot shared the monks' living conditions but by the fifteenth century he had assumed a similar position to that of a temporal ruler and acquired the appurtenances of such a status.

Life in the monastery

The monasteries were built beside rivers or lakes and a mill race was generally cut to enclose the complex in order to supply water for the monks' cooking, washing and sanitary needs. Other structures that had a utilitarian purpose are mills and bake houses. At Kells there are traces of roof lines indicating the position of the mill beside the mill race. The dried-up mill race at Athassel supplied power for the mill. The site of two hearths within the kitchen at Kells and an oven at Clontuskert indicates the bake house at these two monasteries. Only at Kells are there remaining indications of a brew house. These consist of a stone-lined drain leading from the kitchens' hearths into the millstream. A columbarium (a dove house) was a common feature of monastic establishments and two examples survive in the canons' houses, one at Ballybeg and a second at Kells. Doves were reared in these and supplied a delicacy for distinguished guests on special occasions.