In an article in Archaeology Ireland some years ago (Vol. 8, No. 1) I described early published plans of Clonmacnoise: (1) engraved by Hollar in the second edition of Sir James Ware's Hibernia et antiquitatibus eius disquisitiones (1658) and (2) by Blaymires in Harris's edition of Ware's works (1739). I referred in the article to a manuscript plan among the Ware Manuscripts in the British Library (Additional MS 4784) which, though related, was not the source for Hollar's engraving, but at the time I was not aware of a more original plan in the same collection. William O'Sullivan, having read my article, was kind enough to inform me of its existence in Add. MS 4787 and of the fact that the words Taken in Octob. 1621' are written on it. He added the important information that it is in Ware's hand but is likely to be a copy of a plan perhaps prepared for James Ussher when the latter was exploring his new diocese of Meath in the year of his appointment as bishop. In the Established Church, Clonmacnoise had been united with Meath since 1569.
The plan is here published, I think, for the first time. I qualify this because in the last article I claimed that Hollar's engraving was there published for the first time since 1658, only to discover subsequently that a version of it appeared in the translated edition of Ware's works (1705) and again in a Latin edition published in the nineteenth century. There can be no doubt that the original plan of 1621, of which the plan here reproduced is probably a reasonable copy, is the ultimate source of Hollar's engraving of 1658, and that therefore the information in that engraving, with certain provisos, refers to the year 1621 and not to the 1650s. The main caveat regarding the 1658 plan is that the three-dimensional depiction the churches complete with roofs is fanciful. Ussher, in a report on the diocese of Meath dated 28 May 1622, recorded ten churches in the graveyard of Clonmacnoise, of which only two were in reasonably good repair. Which two these were he does not say. They may or may not be the same two recorded by Bishop Dopping as being roofed in 1684: 'Temple Keran' and 'Temple Hurpan'. The cathedral was repaired in 1647 but had again become ruined by 1684.
The manuscript plan is a sketch of the graveyard at Clonmacnoise with its churches crosses and enclosing wall. The churches are identified by letters, referring to a list at the bottom of the page. Figures indicate the length in feet of different stretches of the polygonal enclosing wall, the length of "Temple Finin" and 'Temple Killeene', the length and breadth of 'Temple Kelly' (34ft x 24ft) and possibly the depth (l6ft) of the vaulted sanctuary of the cathedral or 'Temple McDermot'. Three crosses are marked: the Cross of the Scripture very prominently, the South Cross, and a further cross, only faintly marked, to the south east. Near the latter is a small rectangular feature which might be the tomb of an early thirteenth-century bishop, referred to specifically in the 1684 account by Dopping The North Cross, of which only the shaft survives, was presumably overlooked. In the south-east corner of the graveyard a rectangular building is shown with cross-hatching. The foundations of this late medieval domestic structure are still visible and Blaymires identified it as 'The residentiary house of the Dean, Archdeacon etc.' Entrances are shown in the enclosing wall facing north, south, east and west; those to the west and south are shown as gaps, but the other two are depicted as arched openings. Similar arch symbols are used to indicate the famous north door of the cathedral and the south door of 'Temple Finin', which must have been complete at that time.
A note in Latin in the top right-hand corner refers to the fact that the see was united with Meath in the 11th year of Elizabeth (1569). Below the bottom right-hand corner of the sketch are the words 'Taken in Octob. [corrected from 'about August'] 1621'. A crease, fold or stretch-mark in the paper, running horizontally across the page, causes a line of distortion affecting the enclosing wall at each side and 'Temple Rey' and 'Temple Keran'.
Hollar's engraving of 1658 contains most of the information in the manuscript plan but he converted it into a bird's-eye view and showed all the churches roofed. He mistook the depiction of the round tower in the sketch-plan for a strange protrusion in the enclosing wall. The south cross and the residential building got overlooked along the way, and presumably the measurements were deliberately omitted. The sketch is reasonably accurate with regard to the relative proportions and positions of the churches, whereas the engraving places 'Temple Keran' and 'Temple Rey' too far from the others and 'Temple Conner' too close. The care taken with the original sketch allows us to conclude that what we now call Temple Hurpan, attached to the east end of Temple Dowling, did not exist in 1621. It is, however, clearly shown in Blaymires's plan of 1738 and therefore must date from the intervening period.
This plan is an important document, more authentic and reliable in every way than Hollar's print and much closer to the original of 1621. It further pushes back the age of the enclosing wall of the graveyard and provides additional evidence for the east cross, last shown by Blaymires in 1738, and the tomb-like feature beside it which Blaymires does not show. It must be among the earliest surviving antiquarian plans of an Irish site.