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.