friaries ireland

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...

In the present friary church parts of a 15th century church survive, including the nave, south transept and tower, as well as the south window (though not its glass). Nothing remains of the chancel or of the original domestic buildings. The church was given its present form in 1827 when the Franciscans returned to their old monastery. The church was refurbished in 1976....

Of the original church there remain the walls, the west doorway and, in the south wall, two aisle arches (with a figure of St. Francis inserted later between them) and another beside the alter which led to a now no longer existing south transept.

The east window is a modern insertion, but the west window probably dates to a partial reconstruction in the 17th century, when a door to the sacristy was inserted. Parts of the east and west portions of the domestic buildings still stand....

Augustinian Friary

Eamonn Mac Risderd Butler of Pottlerath founded this Friary for the Augustinian Observants in 1462, but it was his son James who erected the existing buildings between 1467 and 1470, by which time the church had been affiliated to Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome. The church consists of one Long rectangle crowned by a central tower, and it has a decorative doorway and window in the east wall. The sedilia in the south wall of the choir is one of the most orn...

Friary:

For a long time the Cistercians of Dunbrody had a chapel here dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, but when it was abandoned by them O'Madden, the local chieftain, gave it to the Dominicans who, with the consent of the Cistercians, erected a friary and a church which they dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Pope Martin V granted a Bull to confirm their possessions in 1426.

The remains consist of a church with nave, chancel and transepts, a cloister and domestic build...

The Friary was founded some time before 1400 by the O'Dowdas, princes of Hy Fiachrach, for the Eremites of St. Augustine. The church dates to shortly after the foundation and has a finely ornamented west doorway with 2 human heads, and a window above it....

Some remains of a Franciscan Friary may be seen in the grounds of the parish priest's house. Founded by one of the Fitzgeralds in the thirteenth century, it later came under the patronage of the O'Byrnes. After the dissolution of the monasteries at the time of the Reformation the building became a courthouse later it was used as a store for war equipment. The heritage centre in the modern courthouse provides a genealogical service and has some interesting artefacts relating to the hist...

The Friary was founded for the Franciscan Friars by Donchad Cairbreach O'Brien, King of Thomond, sometime shortly before his death in 1242. In the following decades, the church must have suffered much damage, for the only considerable part remaining from the earliest foundation is the choir with its beautiful 5-light east window. Donchad's opponent and successor, Turlough O'Brien, repaired the church and enlarged on his predecessors work in 1287 and again in 1306, and put in blue stained glass...

The Friary was founded in 1507 by the McDonaghs. The unusual church has almost identical windows at each end. The church was entered by doors in the north and south walls. The most remarkable feature of the church is the central tower and belfry, which also acted as a rood-screen, with a narrow passage and two rooms on the ground floor, and an arrangement of three arches (the central one being taller than the other two) on the first floor which is only reachable by a dangerous set of steps on...

Founded in 1307, by John de Barry for the Carmelite Friars, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The present ruins are, however, probably of 15th century date, consisting of a nave-and-chancel church, and the eastern and western portions of the domestic buildings. There is a fine west doorway in the church with a twin-lighted window above it. The tower which divides the nave and chancel of the church is only partially preserved, though the spiral staircase within its walls is preserved u...