clonmines

Once a flourishing medieval town, Clonmines still contains the remains of some of its old buildings. The town was given a charter by William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, early in the 13th century, and the Kavanagh family founded an Abbey here for the Augustinian Eremites which was 'beautified' and enlarged in 1385.

The town was destroyed in 1400, but rose again. Although it scarcely survived the 17th century, it continued to send members to Parliament up till 1800. Nevertheless, as late as 1794, the Augustinians still had a prior and brethren attached to their house here, though they may have lived on the other side of the river. The prosperity of the town probably depended on the silver and leadmines nearby which were worked up till Elizabethan times. On the left of the entrance avenue is one of the old town gates which was later turned into a lime-kiln. Passing through a gate, one comes on the right to a tower, known as the Town Hall, a two-storey castle-like building of around 1400 used as a church and a council chamber, and the seat of an ecclesiastical court.