ICONOGRAPHY OF THE WALLPAINTINGS

Living a strict and disciplined life the Cistercian monks would rotate their time between the Opus Dei, prayer and manual labour. The strict statutes of the Cistercian Order forbade any form of decoration which would distract the monks from prayer. Conversely, this rule was not literally followed. The Cistercians had a long tradition of coating their churches white and, as at St Brigid's Abbey on Clare Island, creating false masonry joints. The abbeys at Grey, Graiguenamanagh, Corcomroe and Mellifont all have evidence of following in this style which was both a French and English tradition.

By the 15th Century the wall paintings became more elaborate. This was possibly because the monks relaxed their observations of the statutes. The wallpaintings at Clare Island, Holycross and Abbeyknockmoy are unique in Ireland. They depict hunting, biblical and mythical scenes. The paintings at Clare Island Abbey are multifaceted. AbbeyKnockmoy was the "mother house" of St Brigid's Abbey. Along with the wallpaintings the vaults at Abbeyknockmoy were ingeniously imitated on Clare Island.

The first period paintings are seen on the side walls. During the second period of alteration to the structure of the vault additional paintings were created. The second phase of paintings hid the earlier layer on the side walls. The iconography employed is both a key and a mystery to the dating of the paintings.

The vault of the chancel of the St. Bridget's Abbey is a plain barrel vault with painted false ribs that divide the surface into 16 triangular areas. The framework is deeply scribed and consists of five ribs, that divide the vault into the four bays.  In each of bays  two ribs-cross on the crown of the vault. The ceiling bosses in between the ribs and crossings on the crown of the vault together with the other beautiful paintings complete the decoration. The two periods of the paintings portray various animated scenes.

Since the last survey (1990-2000) the new system of  describing the carved images is used : from the west to the east four bays : Bay 1 to Bay 4; each Bay divided into A, B, C ; this system is applied separately for the north and south side of the vault.

In the maps below you can see that Westropp in 1909-11 could not identify all the images that were recently found during the conservation work of 1999-2000.

Link to the list of the first period images

Link to the list of the second period images

Some details of the wallpaintings
(each picture is clickable and offers more explanations)

	Saint Michael and his scale of judgment. North side, Bay 1B.
	A large organ with two men seated. North side, Bay 1C.
	A man playing the harp. North side, Bay 1C.
	An incised fox or wildcat. North side, Bay 2A.
	A snake exhaling fire. North side, Bay 2A.
	At the top a right hand grasps a torch and a dragon is below.      North side, Bay 2B.
	A herdsman. North side, Bay 2C.
	A horseman riding a pony.   North side, Bay 3A.
	A bowman shooting an arrow.   North side, Bay 3C.
	Man carrying two long spears. North side, Bay 4A.
	Double-headed eagle, with a crown of  flames.  North side, Bay 4C.
	A fisherman holding a three-tongued harpoon catching a fish. South side, Bay 2A.
	Two men wrestling. South side, Bay 2B.
	A griffin with a slender winged leonine body South side, Bay 2C. .
	Harpist seated on a chair. South side, Bay 2C.
	A cock. South side, Bay 3C.
	A red man holding a leash of a hound's collar. South side, Bay 4A.
	A pelican pecking at it's breast. South side, Bay 4A.