This article is from page 10 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
RESIDENTS of Francis Street awoke with a bang on Monday morning when a delivery truck bashed into a pillar at the historic Franciscan Friary.
The incident occurred at around 7.30am at the entrance to the Friary. No one was injured when the delivery truck accidentally collided with the pillar, sending loose piles of broken stonework.
Details of the accident were provided to Gardaí. A Garda spokesman said there was “nothing untoward” about the incident, which he said resulted from a “truck clipping a pillar”.
The spokesman said all details have been provided to the Guardian of the Friary.
According to a history of building, “The precise date of foundation of the Franciscan Friary in Ennis is unknown but it is likely to have been in existence by 1250.
“The nearby residence of the O’Brien kings of Thomond at Clonroad probably attracted the friars to the site and the O’Brien’s were its chief patrons throughout the medieval period.
“The first substantial friary buildings were constructed on an island in the late thirteenth century under the patronage of Toirdhealbhach O’Brien who died in 1306 and may have been buried there.”
A new chapel was opened in Bow Lane in 1830 and the present friary at Willow Bank House was obtained in 1856. The friary church was officially opened on 11 June 1892. The present friary is the Novitiate house for the Irish and British Provinces of the Franciscans.