monastic sites ireland

Inchcleraun is situated on Lough Rea, which is associated with Queen Maeve. Legend telss that she was killed while bathing on the island, by an Ulsterman who shot a stone at her from the mainland, in revenge for the Ulster Cattle Raid. The monastery itself, was built in the 6th century, which is credited to St. Diarmuid.

There are the ruins of four churches there. The first - Teampul Mor, was built in the 13th century, probably by the Augustinians. The Women's Church is believed to have...

The ruins of Kilmacduagh Monastic Settlement lie close to the border of counties Galway and Clare, on the eastern fringes of the Burren. because it is somewhat off the beaten track, it tends to be rather unjustly overlooked as one of the most interesting examples of early monastic architecture in the west of Ireland.

The monastery's most notable feature is the 11th/12th century Round Tower measuring 111ft to the tip of its cap. The tower is unusual in that it tilts, like its more famou...

It appears to have been a very large building, containing no less than seven chapels: St. Martin's, St. Patrick's, St. Peter's, St. John the Baptist, St. George's and St. Anne's, the principal one supporting two chaplains. The steeple of this church "supposed to be the highest in the world was thrown down by a violent storm at Midnight 27th January 1548", and replaced by a steeple of wood. When, from the end of the 13th century, "The men of English blood or birth" appointed to the Primacy were...

Moyne Abbey and Rosserk Abbey are located close to each other, north of Ballina. Both compete for the title of largest and most impressive ecclesiastical ruins in Mayo and both have much in common. Moyne was founded by the Burke Family as a Franciscan friary. Built in the late Irish Gothic Style, it was consecrated in 1462. This abbey was destroyed in the 1590s by Queen Elizabeth's governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham....

Dysert O'Dea is renowned for its wealth of historical and archelogical remains....

Two very early, possibly 8th century, High Crosses have elaborate and varied abstract patterns on the heads and shafts. the base of the larger north cross has Christ giving their mission to the Apostles, two processions and an uncertain animal scene. The south cross has the mission again, Daniel in the Lion's Den, Adam and Eve. A camera lens will note the detail far better than the eye in all but the most ideal slanted light. This is an important site in the development of Irish art. H...

Some 2 km northwards on this road is Noughaval, an ancient monastic site which continued to be occupied up to the 19th century. The remains of the church show that it was built and restored at different times, from the 12th to the 14th centuries. A short distance from the church is a stone-roofed memorial chapel of the O'Davoren family. It was built in 1725 by James Davoren of Lisdoonvarna....

The insignificant remains of the aisle of a medieval church as well as a few 15th or 16th century architectural fragments. The main interest of the place is a slab mounted beside these remains with a representation of the Crucifixion on it. On Christ's right is a man holding a spear, and on his left a man offers him vinegar in a chalice on the end of a pole. It probably formed the lintel over the doorway of a church which has since disappeared. The lintel is probably 12th century in date....

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...

A small treeless island 300 yards offshore from Coliemore harbour, where row-boats may be hired.

The island is uninhabited and its main interest is the early church dedicated to Saint Begnet near the landing place on the west shore. It has prominent antae and a massively lintelled doorway with slightly inclined jambs. The original roof was probably thatch or shingles, but medieval slates discovered in the course of excavation show that the church remained in use for some considerabl...