The origins of Ennis date back to 1240AD when Donnchadh Caribreach O’Brien helped establish the Franciscan Order in Ennis, by his offer of hospitality to wandering Friars. An Abbey was later built to...
Originally built around 1200, complete destruction of the abbey in 1445 led it its rebuilding. The main part of the abbey consists of the Entrance Chamber, the Church, the Tower and the Sacristy....
The Gateway, the only surviving example in Ireland, was the main entrance to the monastic enclosure. The steps up to it are modern for access. It consists of a square building with round...
Bective Abbey is a Cistercian abbey on the River Boyne, founded by Murchad O’Maeil-Sheachlainn in 1147 as a ‘daughter house’ of Mellifont Abbey. It is in a remarkable state of preservation. The buildings...
Archbishop Taché of St. Boniface persuaded the Abbot of Bellefontaine, France, to establish a home for Trappist monks in St. Norbert. The Trappists were an independent branch of the Cistercian Order which began...
In the early 1880s, seven feet beneath street level, the Chapter House of St Mary’s Abbey was rediscovered under a bakery. St Mary’s was a large Cistercian Abbey founded by the Benedictines in...
The Franciscans came to Ireland in around 1226, and St Francis’s Abbey was founded sometime between 1231 April 1234. The first definite date for the abbey is October 15, 1245, when it received...
The Magdalene Tower was the belfry tower of the once extensive Dominican Friary founded here about 1224 by Lucas de Netterville, Archbishop of Armagh. The tower itself is of 14th Century construction and...
Known as the Old Abbey or the Hospital of St. Mary d’Urso, the correct title for this site is the Abbey of St. Mary d’Urso. It was founded by a Norman, Ursus de...
