Hospital Church is a ruined medieval fortified church of the Knights Hospitaller in Hospital, County Limerick, Ireland. It is a National Monument.[1][2]
History
The church was founded before 1215 by Geoffrey de Marisco (d. 1245) as a commandery of the Knights Hospitaller who had owned land in the area since 1200.[3] It was dissolved in 1540 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and then leased, along with its contents, to Captain William Apsley and later to the Browne family; a new church was later built next to it.[3]
Building
The church was built for defence with high walls, prominent base batter and narrow arched windows. The tower at the west end had a barrel vault on the second floor, some of which survives. Architectural fragments and a medieval carving of the crucifixion have been set into the west wall.[3] The tops of two tombs with effigies dating to the 13th–14th century have been placed upright against the east interior wall: a tomb of a knight (possibly Geoffrey de Marisco)[4] and a badly damaged double tomb of a knight and his wife.[3][5]
References
- 1.Lee, Gerard A. (20 December 1996). Leper hospitals in medieval Ireland: with a short account of the Military and Hospitaller Order of St Lazarus of Jerusalem. Four Courts Press. ISBN 9781851822850.
- 2."Reports from Commissioners, Inspectors, and Others". H. M. Stationery Office. 1918. p. 23.
- 3.[3.2][3.3][3.4]"Hospital, Church, Co. Limerick". The Standing Stone. September 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
- 4.Bartlett, Thomas; Jeffery, Keith (1997). A Military History of Ireland (photo). Cambridge University Press. p. 95. ISBN 9780521629898.
- 5.Killanin, Baron Michael Morris; Duignan, Michael V. (1989). The Shell Guide to Ireland. Gill and Macmillan. p. 204. ISBN 9780717115952.