abbeys ireland

In 1148 Dermot Mac Murrough brought Cistercian monks here from Mellifont to found a new monastery which he called 'The Valley of Salvation', and Baltinglass in turn was the mother-house of a number of other Cistercian foundations including Jerpoint, Co. Kilkenny. The monastery was the centre of a number of disputes in the 13th century, one with the Archbishop of Dublin and another in which the monks were accused of harbouring 'felons against the English'. In 1377 Abbot Peter was awarded damages...

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...

The ruins, 1.5 km north of Clarecastle, of a priory of Canons Regular of St. Augustine, founded in 1189 by King Donal Mor O'Brien. The abbey was occupied until about 1650....

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

The original monastery was founded int eh 6th century by St. Cuan or St. Breoghan, but was re-founded for the Augustinians by the Power family, presumably in the 13th century. It was closely associated with St. Catherine's Abbey in Waterford. After the Suppression of the Monasteries in 1537, it passed to the Powers, but they were dispossessed half a century later. Some few medieval wall fragments remain, but the best surviving feature is a tomb by Roricus O'Comayn, with the following panels;...

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...

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....

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...

in 1216 Cathal Crovderg O'Connor founded a monastery here for the Augustinians on the site of an older monastery, and some parts of the church date from this time. The church is cruciform, with three fine transitional east windows. The chancel has ribbed vaulting and well-carved capitals supporting it. After a fire in 1265 the nave and possibly part of the crossing were rebuilt. In the 15th century the Abbey is occasionally mentioned in Papal Letters, and it was at this period and that the c...