Movilla Abbey facts for kids

Movilla Abbey today

Movilla Abbey (which means "Monastery of the Plain of the Notable Tree" in Irish) is a very old and important monastery located in Newtownards, County Down, Northern Ireland. Many people believe it was one of the most significant monasteries in Ulster and all of Ireland a long time ago. It's important not to confuse Movilla Abbey with a different place called Moville in County Donegal.

Building the Abbey
Abbey's Story
Abbey Ruins and Cemetery
The Abbey Stone
Preservation
Gallery
See also

Building the Abbey

Movilla Abbey was started in the year 540 by Saint Finnian. He had the support of the local king, who was part of the Dál Fiatach family. The abbey was a place of Christian worship for over a thousand years. It finally closed down in 1542 during the time known as the Dissolution of the Monasteries, when many monasteries were shut.

The name Movilla comes from the Irish words magh bile. This means "the plain of the ancient tree." It got this name because, before the abbey was built, people who followed pagan religions used to worship a special sacred tree on that very spot. Saint Finnian's connection to Movilla was remembered in an old book called the Book of Armagh. It said he was "a man of great life who rests with many miracles in his city of Movilla." When Finnian died in 579, Movilla was already known as a very important monastery.

Abbey's Story

Thanks to Saint Finnian, Movilla Abbey grew and became very successful. By the 600s, it was one of the biggest monasteries in Ireland. It was a busy center for Celtic Christianity, a place for worship, prayer, learning, and even trade. The abbey became even more famous because it had a complete copy of the Vulgate Bible in Latin. Finnian had brought this Bible from Rome. At that time, it was the only complete Bible in all of Ireland. This made Movilla a unique and highly respected place for learning across the country.

Saint Columba and the First Copyright Dispute

Movilla's most famous student was Columba, who learned from Finnian. Columba became a deacon (a type of church leader) while at Movilla. People say he performed his first miracles there, like turning water into wine for the Eucharist (a Christian ceremony). After finishing his training, Columba left. But he came back to visit Finnian in the 550s. This visit was very important because it led to what many believe was the world's first recorded argument about copyright.

While staying at Movilla, Columba asked Finnian if he could look at the abbey's valuable Bible. Columba really wanted his own copy, but he knew Finnian wouldn't let him copy it. So, he secretly started to copy it without permission. He was almost finished when Finnian found out. Finnian demanded that Columba give back the "pirate" copy, but Columba refused.

To solve the problem, Finnian took the case to Diarmait mac Cerbaill, who was the High King of Ireland. The King made a famous decision: "To every cow belongs her calf, to every book its copy." This meant the copy belonged to Finnian. Columba was very unhappy about this. Because he disagreed with King Diarmaid's decision, he reportedly started a successful fight of the Uí Néill clan against the King. This battle, called the Battle of the Book, was a big battle that led to many people being hurt or killed.

Crafts and Skills at Movilla

Besides being a Christian center for prayer, learning, and spreading the faith, Movilla was also known for its excellent craftsmen. They were especially good at working with bronze and glass. In 1980-81, some experts named R.J. Ivens and M.J. Yates dug up an area near Movilla Road. They found many interesting things.

They said that the most important discoveries from the early monastery showed the amazing skills of the craftsmen who worked with iron, bronze, and glass. They found leftover bits like slag (waste from metalwork), broken pieces of crucibles (pots for melting metal), and scrap metal. These pieces helped them learn a lot. Some objects were really exciting, like a "trial-piece" where a bronzesmith practiced his designs of triangles, swirls, and arches. They also found a glass-headed pin decorated with different colored glass. These finds showed that the artists and their techniques were very advanced, even though the houses were simple wooden ones and the pottery was quite plain. The digging helped them understand the skills of early Christian craftsmen.

Later History and Decline

In the 600s, Pope Honorius I sent a letter to several Celtic church leaders. He encouraged them to follow the Roman way of dating Easter and warned them about a belief called the Pelagian heresy. It is thought that one of the people who received this letter was Saint Cronan of Movilla.

In the early 700s, the bishop at Movilla was Colman, son of Murchu. He wrote a hymn (a religious song) to Saint Michael the Archangel. It starts with:

In Trinitate spes mea fixa non in omine

Et archangelum deprecor Michaelem nomine

Which means: In the Trinity my hope is fixed not in an omen,
And the archangel I beseech, Michael by name.

Movilla started to become less important after it was attacked by the Danes in 823. In the 900s, it joined with Bangor Abbey. It got a bit of new life in 1135 when Saint Malachy of Armagh brought a group of Augustinians (a type of monks) to the abbey. However, it never became as grand as it once was. By 1306, Movilla monastery was one of the poorest church properties in the area. It was so poor that the ruling Anglo-Normans (English and Norman rulers) weren't interested in taking it over, so they left Irish abbots in charge.

The abbey was finally closed down by King Henry VIII in 1542. Later, during the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Brian O’Neill, a leader of the O'Neills, burned Movilla. He also burned other abbeys in the Ards area. He did this to stop the English army from using Irish abbeys as military bases.

Abbey Ruins and Cemetery

Today, you can't see any parts of Finnian's original Celtic Abbey. The ruins that are still standing are from the Augustinian church, which was built in the 1400s. These ruins include two end walls, about 150 feet apart. The church inside was about 107 feet long and 21 feet wide. In the east wall, there used to be a window with three sections, but two of them are now mostly blocked up. The third window that remains has a Romanesque style (an old European architectural style). At the top of its arch, there are two small carved heads. In the west wall, there are two window sections with trefoil (three-lobed) tops and transoms (horizontal bars) that show signs of tracery (decorative stone patterns).

You can only get to the existing ruins through the entrance to Movilla Cemetery, which is on Old Movilla Road. On the north wall of the Augustinian abbey ruin, there are several grave slabs made of sandstone. They are narrower at one end and have large crosses carved into them in different designs. The slabs for men show swords, while those for women show a shear (a type of sickle) and a withe (a willow branch). These slabs are Anglo-Norman in origin and date from the 900s to the 1200s. One of them has an inscription that says "Or Do Dertrend," which means "a prayer for Dertriu." Dertriu was probably an abbot (head of the monastery) of Movilla in the 900s.

There are also many memorials from the early 1600s. Two of them are quite special: the tomb of the Corry Family, which looks like a small Greek temple, and the Parr Mausoleum, built in 1860 in the Gothic Revival style (a style that brought back medieval Gothic designs).

The Movilla Cemetery around the abbey ruins is still used today and is looked after by the Ards and North Down Borough Council. It is the burial place for twenty-one soldiers from the Commonwealth who died in World War I and twenty-four from World War II. Seven of these soldiers are still unidentified. Some more recent burials include Colonel Robert Blair Paddy Mayne, who was one of the most decorated British soldiers in World War II. Also buried there is Ottilie Patterson (Barber), a famous jazz and blues singer known for her performances with the Chris Barber Band in the 1950s and 1960s.

The Abbey Stone

In 1886, a man named W. J. Patterson shared some interesting information in a report. He said that some years before, a strange stone object was dug up in the burial ground around the old Abbey Church of Movilla. It was found when someone was digging a family burial vault about eight to ten feet deep, until they reached the solid slate rock under the clay. At the bottom of the hole, resting on the rock, they found a large stone box.

The stone box was 3 feet 8 inches long, 2 feet 8 inches wide, and 1 foot 10 inches high. Inside, it was 26 inches long, 14 inches wide, and about 15 inches deep. It looked like a roughly made oblong trough. The only decoration was some shallow panels carved on the outside. Along the top edge, there was a ledge about an inch deep, which might have been for holding a stone lid.

Many people who saw the stone thought it was an early baptismal font (a basin used for baptisms). They believed it was "hastily buried for safety" when Danish pirates were approaching. Others thought it was a chest or coffer used to keep valuable church items safe. This idea fits with the space for a stone lid and the theory about the Vikings. Another idea was that the object was the base of a carved cross, and the hollow part was where the bottom of the cross stood. However, Patterson disagreed with this. He said the base would have been too small for such a large cross, and a cross that big would have needed a very wide and thick shaft (26 inches by 14 inches). He believed it would have been too heavy and would have broken the base if the cross leaned even a little.

Preservation

Movilla Abbey, which was a church for Augustinian Canons, is now a State Care Historic Monument. It is located in the townland of Movilla, within the Borough of Ards, at grid reference J5035 7440.