Piscina, Abbeydorney Church (KE021-053001-)

13th century piscina with roll-moulded jambstones at the eastern end of the southern wall of St Mary's church ruins (KE021-053001-), Cistercian Monastery of Abbeydorney aka Kyrie Eleison, Co. Kerry. The word piscina comes from the Latin piscine meaning fish-pond, or reservoir and is used to a describe a stone bowl with a drain-hole located near the altar of a church for the disposing of water used in the rituals of the Mass. The drain hole is enclosed within a quatrefoil surround, or four-leafed flower. Water poured into this bowl drains down into the ground through a channel in the wall of the medieval church. The piscina was set into a double wall niche divided by a central column now gone. The washing of the priest’s hands and the items used in the ritual of mass was an essential part of the religious rite known as ablutions. Psalm 26:6: ‘I wash my hands in innocence, and go about your altar’. For information on Abbeydorney, visit: https://maps.archaeology.ie/HistoricEnvironment/?SMRS=KE021-053001-