monastic sites ireland

The ancient monastery of Kilmalkedar, founded in the seventh century by St Maolcathair, is one of the foremost Early Christian sites of the Dingle Peninsula. The existing church is a twelfth-century building consisting of a nave to which a chancel was added at a later date, as was the usual practice. Many of the features which typify Irish Romanesque architecture are present. The bold antae with animal-head decoration are well preserved, as is the round-headed doorway with blank tympanum. Th...

Of the monastery of Drumcliff, said to have been founded by St Columcille in the sixth century, only the elaborately sculptured High Cross and the base of a Round Tower survive. The former dates possibly from the early years of the eleventh century and is decorated on both faces with scriptural scenes, interlace designs and zoomorphic motifs. Among the biblical episodes depicted are the Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, and Daniel in the Lions' Den. close by is Drumcliff Parish Church, in the g...

A focal point of the northern midlands where the provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Connaught all converge, Longford, where history and literature, tragedy and triumph are all woven together, takes its name from the ancient stronghold of the O'Farrell family (Long Fort - Fort of the O'Farrells). Bordered to the West by the majestic River Shannon, Longford is a county of rolling plains and picturesque stretches of water. The highest pint of the county, Cairn Hill, is only 279 m high, but from a...

Though little more than half a mile to the west of the busy Dublin road, there is an air of detachment and antiquity about this celebrated place. The monastery came into existence in the sixth century but little is known of its founder, St Buite. Its fame rests chiefly on its exquisitely sculptured High Crosses, notably the South Cross, now generally called Muiredach's Cross after an abbot whose name is inscribed on the base. The cross is remarkable for the variety and organisation of its scr...

The monastery of Terryglass which has long since disappeared , took the lead in the great 9th -10th century revival of Irish learning and literature to which we owe much of what is now know about Ireland's remote and pagan past. The oldest personal letter we have is one to the Abbot of Terryglass seeking the works of some poets. The great compilation, THE BOOK OF LEINSTER was, it seems, begun here....

The site of St. Cannice's Monastery in the sixth-century. Plundered in 913, rebuilt in 1052, burnt I 1116, rebuilt in 1234, and again burnt in 1346. The nineteenth-century church on the site of the Augustinian Priory church retains thirteenth-century pieces and pieces from the nearby fourteenth-century Dominican Abbey. To the east is Aghaboe House (private), a recently restored early eighteenth-century house. In a field to the north is Adam de Hereford's square motte....

Glendalough Monastery was founded by St. Kevin, in the 6th century. St. Kevin is perhaps unfairly linked to a poetic legend. While living in a cave as a hermit, he was supposedly pursued by a woman, who tried to seduce him. In a rage, he hurled her over the cliff, and into the lake, but there is no evidence to support this story. But his cave, which is located in the upper part of the lake is known as 'St. Kevin's Bed'.
Glendalough has a fabulous collection of buildings including the C...

This bare and treeless island, often inaccessible because of rough seas and lack of a proper quay, lies 4 miles north-west of Streedagh Point. Charter boat trips leave from Mullaghmore harbour in suitable conditions, the 9-mile crossing taking about 1.5 hours. On the island, abandoned by its small beleaguered population in the 1950s, are a wealth of remains of the early Christian period. The original monastery was founded in the sixth century by St. Molaise and several of the later buildings...

A monastic settlement was founded on the island, maybe as far back as the 5th Century, by St Thaddeus who is buried there. The settlement continued until the middle of the 16th Century and the Church acted as Parish Church until its burning in the early years of the Ulster Plantation. It is known that the Church was in ruin by the year 1603 but in the troubled year of 1798 many women and children were forced to take shelter on the islands of Lough Beg. Mass was often celebrated within the " r...

A focal point of the northern midlands where the provinces of Leinster, Ulster and Connaught all converge, Longford, where history and literature, tragedy and triumph are all woven together, takes its name from the ancient stronghold of the O'Farrell family (Long Fort - Fort of the O'Farrells). Bordered to the West by the majestic River Shannon, Longford is a county of rolling plains and picturesque stretches of water. The highest pint of the county, Cairn Hill, is only 279 m high, but from a...