jerpoint abbey

Jerpoint Abbey is located about 1 mile from Thomastown and is undoubtedly one of the finest Cistercian monastic ruins in Ireland. The Abbey was founded by Donal Mac Gillapatrick, King of Ossory, in 1158 for the Benedictines, but it was later colonised by the Cistercians from Baltinglass in 1180. Jerpoint, in its turn, became the mother house for the Abbeys of Kilcooly, Co. Tipperary and Kilkenny in 1184. In 1227 it became affiliated to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire. After the dissolution of the Monasteries it was leased to the Earl of Ormond.
The lay-out is typical of a Cistercian monastery, with a three-aisled church standing on the north side of a quadrangle, on the other three sides of which lay the cloister and the domestic buildings including the Chapter House, refectory, dormitory and kitchen. The eastern end of the church may date to as early as 1160, though the original east window was replaced by the present window in the 14th century. The rest of the church was built about 1180, and although the aisles have bluntly pointed Gothic arches, the capitals are still Romanesque in character, as are also the round-headed windows in the west wall.