abbeys ireland

Two miles (3km) to the north-west is Shelton Abbey, formerly the residence of the Earls of Wicklow and now a state forestry school. The demense is noted for its rhodendrons.
This is now used as a prison since the 1970's....

Abbeyshrule is situated east of Ballymahon in a picturesque valley of the River Inny. A Cistercian Abbey was founded here in 1150 and was one of the earliest in the country following the success of the first foundation at Melifont in County Louth. The Abbey was founded by the O'Farrells and was eventually closed by Queen Elizabeth 1 during the Tudor suppression of the monasteries. The lands were granted to Robert Dillon, Earl of Roscommon. The adjoining graveyard contains part of the only hi...

St. Malachy of Armagh brought a handful of monks with him from Clairvaux and founded the first Irish Cistercian monastery here in 1142, on lands granted by Donogh O'Carroll, Prince of Uriel. St. Bernard of Clairvaux sent a skilful architect named Robert to help build the church, and this is reflected in the rounded chapels in the transepts - which are of Continental origin and which are some of the few remaining portions of the original church. In 1157 the church was consecrated with great pom...

A focal point of the northern midlands where the provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Connaught all converge, Longford, where history and literature, tragedy and triumph are all woven together, takes its name from the ancient stronghold of the O'Farrell family (Long Fort - Fort of the O'Farrells). Bordered to the West by the majestic River Shannon, Longford is a county of rolling plains and picturesque stretches of water. The highest pint of the county, Cairn Hill, is only 279 m high, but from a...

Near the shore of Lough Kinale are the slight remains of a thirteenth century abbey founded by an anglo-Norman, richard Tuite. It was plundered by Edward Bruce after the sack of Granard, but it survived until the dissolution and the tow of its abbots became bishops of Clonmacnois. A semicircular earthwork north of the village is regarded locally as the site of the original church founded here by St Patrick about 460. From the shore of Lough Kinale , 1 mile north -east of Abbeylara, p...

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....

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....

Murrisk Abbey: The picturesque ruins of the Augustinian Abbey stand in the shadow of Croagh Patrick. There is a great deal of piety, heroism, poetry and drama enshrined in the history of the Abbey. It is no wonder the ruins have been declared a National monument. The Abbey was founded in 1457 when a letter from Pope Callistus III gave permission to an Augustinian Hugh O'Malley of Banada Friary, County Sligo to establish a Church and Priory at Murrisk on land donated by Thady O'Malley who i...

About 3km from Ballinamore lies a ruined medieval church built on the site of an early Christian monastery founded by St Caillin. The Abbey was used for a time as a place of Church of Ireland worship until the present church was built nearby circa 1798....

Fore, approximately 15 miles from Mullingar has the most extensive Benedictine remains in Ireland. It is the site of the ruins of St. Fechin's Monastery and was a Benedictine Priory until 1539 when it was suppressed by Henry VIII.

The present building belongs in the main to the 15th century. There are nine ancient crosses within a radius of a mile from the village. Near the foot of Ben Fore (713 feet) is a large moat, reputed to be an early Anglo-Norman Fortification. There are a...