abbeys ireland

The Abbey was erected on the site of an older monastery  some time after 1216 by Geoffrey de Marisco for the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. The Abbey was dedicated to Our Blessed Lady and by 1302 it was the third richest monastery in the Diocese of Ardfert with its Prior being a Lord of Parliament.

Only the church, with a single long nave, remains. The windows, doors and niches made from sandstone can be dated to the 13th century, while th...

Cistercians were brought from Furness in Lancashire to construct the monastic buildings, which were laid out according to the accustomed Cistercian ground-plan, with a church on the northern side of an open cloister garth and with community and domestic buildings enclosing the other three sides. Of these, only the choir with its graceful triple lancet windows in the east gable survives to anything like its original height, though the transepts with their rib-vaulted open twin chapels, and the b...

The site of St. Cannice's Monastery in the sixth-century. Plundered in 913, rebuilt in 1052, burnt I 1116, rebuilt in 1234, and again burnt in 1346. The nineteenth-century church on the site of the Augustinian Priory church retains thirteenth-century pieces and pieces from the nearby fourteenth-century Dominican Abbey. To the east is Aghaboe House (private), a recently restored early eighteenth-century house. In a field to the north is Adam de Hereford's square motte....

Slane Abbey was founded in 1512 for 4 priests, four clerks and four choristers.The tower of this abbey is opened  to the public and and can be climed by a winding stair case. At the top you have lovely view of the Boyne Valley....

St. Mary's Abbey is one of Dublin's best kept secrets. Once the wealthiest Cistercian Abbey in Ireland, today it is unrecognisable. Two rooms remain - the Chapter House and the Slype. The Abbey, founded in 1139, played a large role in the affairs of the state until its dissolution by Henry VIII in 1539. It was the Chapter House that 'Silken' Thomas Fitzgerald started his unsuccessful rebellion in 1534.

Today it contains a fascinating exhibition put together by Duchas The Heritage Ser...

Standing on an earlier monastic site founded by St. Cronan (of Tuamgraney?), the Church was granted to the Augustinian Canons of Clareabbey by Donal Mor O'Brien in 1189. The church, with its unusual east window with foliage decoration on the outside, probably dates to this period. By 1302 it had become a parish church. In the 15th century conventual buildings (of which parts remain), a sacristy and south transept were added. it was granted to Donogh, Earl of Thomond, in 1620. It is idyllica...

The only surviving remnant of an early monastery here is the 9th/10th century High Cross situated on a dominant hillock overlooking the lake. It would appear to be the only High Cross in Northern Ireland where the shaft and head of the cross are likely to have belonged together originally. Old Testament scenes decorate the east face (Adam and Eve, Sacrifice of Isaac, Daniel in the Lions' Den and Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace) and south side (Cain slaying Abel, David [or Sampson?] and the...

Founded by the Roche family for the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, the abbey was dedicated to SS. Peter and Paul in the 13th century. The surviving parts of the nave are 15th century, the tower is 14th century. Henry II is reputed to have done penance here for the murder of Thomas Beckett. The ruins are very attractive and there are some interesting old graveslabs in the grounds. Key at 9 Abbey Street....

Sligo Abbey was founded in 1252 or 1253 for the Dominicans by Maurice Fitzgerald, 2nd Baron of Offaly, who was also founder of the town. Having escaped the ravages suffered by the now destroyed Sligo Castle in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Friary was accidentally burned in 1414, but was rebuilt two years later by Friar Bryan MacDonagh with assistance from Pope John XXIII.
In 1568 O'Conor Sligo made a petition to Queen Elizabeth not to dissolve the Friary, and this was granted on t...

One of the best preserved in Ireland, this Cistercian Abbey was colonised from Mellifont in 1161. the building of the chancel, and the transepts with their side-chapels, must have begun shortly after this date, though the lancet windows in the east gable were inserted in the 13th century. There is an interesting combination of rounded and pointed arches in the transepts and crossing. The large square tower formed part of the church from the beginning, though it was raised in height at a later...