Survey Data
Reg No
30314036
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic, Cultural, Historical
Original Use
Monument
In Use As
Monument
Date
1620 - 1855
Coordinates
129928, 225310
Date Recorded
04/09/2008
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Rubble limestone wall, built 1854, incorporating doorways, windows and plaques from late-medieval house of Lynch family. Concrete side supports added 1978. Gabled plaque over one doorway has sculpted skull and cross bones and inscription 'remember deathe vaniti of vaniti & all is but vaniti' and date '1624'. Rectangular limestone panel above bearing inscription 'This ancient memorial of the stern and unbending justice of the chief magistrate of this city, James Lynch Fitzstephen, elected mayor A.D. 1493, who condemned and executed his own guilty son Walter on this spot, has been restored to this its ancient site A.D. 1854 with the approval of the Town Commissioners by their chairman, V. Revd. Peter Daly, P.P. & Vicar of St. Nicholas'. Carved panel bearing arms of Lynch family impaled with those of Browne and with initials 'C…' and 'EB' inset over doorway to south. Square-headed single and double-light window openings having limestone sills, mullions and block-and-start surrounds. Pointed arch doorways, now blocked, having tooled chamfered surrounds.
Appraisal
Forming part of the northern boundary of St Nicholas' churchyard, the Lynch Memorial Window is a well established tourist attraction, associated with Mayor James Lynch Fitzstephen who supposedly hanged his own son from the window of this house for the murder of a Spaniard in 1493. Essentially this structure is the rebuilt front wall of a house, complete with window and door openings. The two plaques and coat of arms add considerably to the historical significance of the structure.