Black Friary, Trim

Notes:

The Blackfriary was a Dominican friary, founded by Geoffrey de Geneville in 1263 just outside the town walls of Trim. Despite it being dismantled in the 1750s for building stone, ongoing excavations at this site since 2010 continue to reveal significant remains. Like at Trim Castle, limestone of the locality was the principal building stone used at the Blackfriary. Sandstone was employed for decorative architectural purposes and slate for roofing. Amongst these familiar building materials lay a highly distinctive, exotic limestone from the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset, which was used in the cloister arcade. The cloister garth at the Blackfriary is the largest known Irish example; this coupled with the use of Purbeck for the cloister columns and arches suggest high status. When the Blackfriary was taken down in the eighteenth century to supply building stone to the town, it appears that builders encountered but did not value the highly decorative, green red, fossil rich stone of the cloister arcade.