The pre-thirteenth-century nave of Leighlin Cathedral: a reassessment of the building and its historical context

Abstract

Published accounts of Leighlin Cathedral, Co. Carlow, have interpreted it as a structure of essentially no earlier than the late-thirteenth or early-fourteenth century, with a series of alterations thereafter down to the sixteenth century, followed by restorations in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. The aim of this paper is to challenge the received interpretation of the earliest phase or phases of the fabric, presenting a case for the existing nave being a pre-thirteenth-century structure, built at least in part under Bishop Dúngal Ua Cáellaide (c. 1145x1152–1181) assisted by the patronage of Murchad Mac Gormáin, lord of the trícha cét of Uí Bairrche. Part I of the paper provides an analysis of the fabric and sets it into a contemporary architectural context. Part II examines the likely historical context of the building, insofar as this can be reconstructed.