Relics and recluses revisited: some thoughts on Cormac's Chapel, Cashel

A few years ago I argued that most of the late eleventh- and twelfth-century double-vaulted churches found at important Irish ecclesiastical sites were, among other things, built to house relics and ascetic monks including one or more recluses. Their stone roofs kept the relics safe from fire, while the chamber between the two vaults was for domestic purposes. It was argued that these churches were a local expression of a European trend, for the institution of reclusion becomes more popular, better-defined and more closely regulated as part of the Gregorian reform movement, and architecturally this development is expressed by an increase in evidence for anchorholds throughout Europe from the later eleventh century.Thus, this is the very period when one might expect to find evidence that a church type was developed in Ireland with this institution in mind. The earliest and simplest of the double-vaulted churches is St Columba’s House, Kells (c.1080-94), while Cormac’s Chapel, Cashel (c.1134) is by far the most sophisticated. In this latter case, the evidence in favour of these twin functions is relatively equivocal but suggestive nonetheless. In this contribution aspects of this evidence are considered in more detail, leading to some revisions of my previous discussion. No other building expresses so eloquently the overlapping interests of church and ‘state’ in medieval Ireland. This essay is offered as a modest tribute to Donnchadh Ó Corráin who has made an immense contribution to our understanding of both of these spheres.