Mayo Abbey's £
1 million project
for St. Colman's Church
April 10 1996
By Michael Commins
The old Church in Mayo Abbey is set to become the centre of a major £ 1 million development plan. Details of the ambitious and challenging project were announced last night by Mayo Abbey Resource Development Company Ltd. The completed project will, in essence, be an interpretive centre for the monastic site of Mayo Abbey, founded in 671 by St. Colman's and which at one time had in the region of 3,000 students, many from Britain and the Continent.
Chairman of the Resource Development Company, Joe Brett, says the proposals are a unique bringing together of a number of factors. These include the recognition of Mayo Abbey as one of the most important Christian sites in Ireland, the reuse of the old closed down Famine Church of St. Colman in the village, and the re-establishment of strong ties with the ancient Kingdom of Northumbria in England and St. Columba's Isle of Iona in Scotland.
The plan envisages four major elements with separate entrances but all interconnected internally. Through the use of the latest technology in directional lighting, sound, and display illustrating Mayo Abbey from its origins of human habitation through the establishment of St. Colman's Abbey of the Saxons, visitors will be able to journey through a "time-tunnel".
Through various techniques, it is planned that visitors to Mayo Abbey Centre will be able to look out the existing windows and see the whole monastic site as it would have been at various times in history. The visitor would then emerge at first floor level to an interpretive area containing a model of the original Abbey and walk through a new opening in the west gable to an elevated triangular glass viewing area overlooking the whole monastic settlement as it is today.
It is also hoped to restore and retain the sanctuary at the east end of the Church. "This will provide a place of quiet contemplation and prayer, celebrating the courage, faith and prayers of the many past generations of the people and priests of Mayo Abbey. The restored east end could be used for pilgrimages and religious ceremonies and may hold as many as fifty people", says Mr. Brett.
The new top floor of the building will be a multi-use area and may be used for conferences, concerts, exhibitions, or an educational facility.
Plans for the project at St. Colman's Church have been developed between the architectural department of Mayo County Council and Mr. Chricton Lang, C.E.O. of Iona Abbey Ltd. They have been presented as a gift to the people of Mayo Abbey.
Connaught Telegraph - News - April 1996
