holy cross cistercian abbey

The chancel is possibly the finest piece of 15th century architecture in Ireland, with a beautiful east window and exquisite ribbed vaulting which is also found in the transepts and the crossing. In the chancel is a fine sedilia with the English royal arms and those of the Earls of Ormond. The north transept is of interest because on its west wall is preserved one of the few medieval wall paintings surviving in Ireland. it depicts two hunters with bows and arrows, and another with a horn in his mouth and a dog on a leash, hunting a deer which is hiding behind a tree. The figures are coloured brown, red and green. In between the two chapels of the south transept is a unique structure with columns and arches; it is known as 'The Monks' Walking Place' but it may have been utilised to house the relic of the True Cross. Also in the south transept are stone stairs leading to the first floor of the domestic buildings, by which the monks retired to bed at night. There is fine ribbed vaulting under the tower; note also the owl carved under one of the corbels. What remains of the cloister built by Dionysius O'Congail around 1450 has been reconstructed recently. On the eastern side of the beautifully kept cloister is a very unusual doorway which led to what must have been the chapter house; nothing but the foundations of the refectory on the south side. remain, but buildings on the west side have now been restored to act as a tourist centre, with shop and audio-visual presentation. To the east of these buildings are further structures, that nearer the river having been probably an infirmary while the one abutting on to the road was probably the abbot's quarters. The Abbey was not suppressed until 1563, but the dispossesed monks returned to the Abbey at intervals throughout the 17th century except during the Cromwellian period and after 1691.