abbeys ireland

Cahir abbey: The Abbey of Our Lady was founded in the 13th century in the reign of King John by Geoffrey de Carnville, a Norman Knight. It was an Augustinian foundation of the Order of the Canons Regular. It has a high central tower, 70ft. in height which was converted into a dwelling house at some post-reformation date. Part of another tower remains. The out-buildings reached as far as the river. Edward Lonergan was its last prior and it was in full use for over 400 years - currently bein...

A Cistercian Abbey founded by Richard Tuit in 1211 and colonised from St. Mary's in Dublin in 1214. It was pillaged by Edward Bruce in 1315. The only surviving parts of the Abbey are the crossing of 1214, and the tower inserted over it in the 15th century. The tower was approached by an inserted stairway; the tower had a barrel vault over the crossing....

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...

Jerpoint Abbey is located about 1 mile from Thomastown and is undoubtedly one of the finest Cistercian monastic ruins in Ireland. The Abbey was founded by Donal Mac Gillapatrick, King of Ossory, in 1158 for the Benedictines, but it was later colonised by the Cistercians from Baltinglass in 1180. Jerpoint, in its turn, became the mother house for the Abbeys of Kilcooly, Co. Tipperary and Kilkenny in 1184. In 1227 it became affiliated to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. After the dissolution of the M...

Following the Vee Scenic route, four miles on is the famed Mount Melleray Abbey founded in 1832. Mount Melleray is a monastery of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance and it was built by the monks who were expelled from France....

The building that is now the Abbey was erected in the 1830's as a residence by the Barrington family....

Hill-walking has become a popular sport in Ireland, with thousands of people walking with dozens of clubs or in smaller groups. While vigorous, other aspects of mountaineering in Ireland such as rock-climbing and hill-running trail behind in numbers participating.
So why have so many people been inspired to take up hill-walking in Ireland? Well the fundamentals are the hills, the weather and access. The hills would be considered tiny in the context of many European areas let alone furthe...

Situated on the site of an earlier monastery founded in the 7th century, this is an Augustinian Abbey founded possibly in the 12th century, and now in the grounds of Ashford Castle. it probably replaces a church which was burnt in 1137. The present Abbey may have been built by Turlough O'Connor, King of Connacht, or else by one of the O'Duffys. Of the church itself comparatively little remains, and the fine Romanesque doorway was inserted into the north wall in modern times. This doorway con...

The church of this Cistercian Abbey was re-roofed in 1975 and thus was restored to its former glory one of the finest of Irish 15th century churches. The foundation was originally Benedictine (1169), but in 1180 Cistercian monks were brought by Donal Mor O'Brien from Monasteraneagh, Co. Limerick (q.v.) to re-found the monastery and the Charter of the Abbey was confirmed in 1186. Little remains of the original abbey building, though the processional door leading from the south aisle to the clo...