moor abbey church

Donough Cairbreach O'Brien, King of Thomond, founded a friary for the Franciscans here early in the 13th century, but the present church was probably not begun until 1471, only to be burned the following year. After the Suppression in 1541, it was sold to John of Desmond. Sir Humphrey Gilbert's horsemen burned the church once more in 1569, and the friars who had stayed on were massacred in 1570. It suffered little damage when police tried to blow it up in 1921. The church is a simple nave-and-chancel church with a tall slender tower which contains a sedilia and some windows. Nothing remains of the domestic buildings or the cloister.