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Some Sheep and a Little History

January 28, 2016

During our wonderful visit to Suzanna Crampton’s farm to photograph her Zwartbles flock (see previous post), I asked Suzanna if there were any scenic venues nearby where I might find other sheep to photograph. She suggested that we stop by Kells Priory, which was a short distance from her farm. Maria Dunphy kindly led us to the location, and oh, yes, there were plenty of sheep!

The Augustine priory, the walls of which date back to the 1300s, is situated alongside King’s River next to the village of Kells, about 15 km south of the medieval city of Kilkenny. The priory is a National Monument under the guardianship of the Office of Public Works. One of its most striking features is a collection of medieval tower houses spaced at intervals along and within walls that enclose a site of just over three acres. These towers give the priory the appearance more of a fortress than of a place of worship. A large flock of sheep wander these acres, and since it was easy for me to climb over a low-walled section, I wandered around with them. They didn’t seem to mind.

The priory is divided into two parts, an inner monastic “Precinct” alongside the river, and a large outer enclosure to the south known as “Burgher’s Court.” Today all the monastic remains are grouped together in the Precinct while Burgess Court is little more than the walled field populated by sheep and tourists like me.

In reading about its history, I discovered that Kells Priory was associated with a 1324 witchcraft trial that resulted in a noblewoman, Petronilla de Meath, becoming Ireland’s first heretic to be burned at the stake. In March 1540 the church and property were surrendered to James Butler, 9th Earl of Ormonde, a result of English King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, one of the most revolutionary events in English history.

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