monastic sites ireland

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...

A monastery was founded here in the 6th century and at the synod of Rathbreasail in 1111. Ardcarn was chosen as one of the five dioceses of Connacht. At the synod of Kells in 1152, it was amalgamated with Elphin, Roscommon and Drumcliff to form the present diocese of Elphin.
From 1144 there was a convent of Arrosian nuns at Ardcarn. It was the leading sheep and wool market in Connacht.
Arthur Young described the plains of Boyle as the biggest sheep walk he had ever seen....