monastery ireland

This monastery was founded for monks who came to the mainland here from the offshore island of Skellig Michael in the 12th or 13th century. As with their former monastery, this one was also dedicated to St. Michael.

The buildings have been partially eroded by the sea. The two remaining churches seem to date however from the 15th century and have windows and a door with dressed stones. Adjoining one of the churches is a 15th century cloister garth with a large hall on the other side...

This early monastery is dramatically situated on the slopes of a barren and rocky island which stands sentinel against the Atlantic waves on the south-western coast of Ireland. Tradition attributes the foundation of the monastery to St. Finan. The deaths of some of its monks are recorded in 823, 950 and 1044, but the monastery continued till the 12th or 13th century when its monks transferred to the mainland at Ballinskelligs. The monastic remains are sited on a saddle in the rock about 550 f...

The majority of artefacts relating to St Columb are housed here in this historic church founded in 1784. It occupies the site held to be that of St Columba's original monastic church founded in the sixth century. The church has since evolved into a monument to the saint. The kneeling stone now stands upright to avoid further erosion from usage as the deep gauges into the stone were created by people rubbing the stone continually over the years. Admission : Free Opening Hours : 8:00am - 9:00...

In the sixth century A.D. a Christian monastery was founded on the hill of Derry. The site was allegedly granted by a local king who had a fortress there. A similar kind of fortress can be seen at the spectacular Grianan of Aileach, a few miles west of the city and now in County Donegal. According to legend the monastery of Derry was established by the great Irish saint Colmcille/Columba (521-597). Colmcille founded many important monasteries in Ireland and Britain, including Durrow in the i...

In the tranquil valley of the River Mattock, a subsidiary of the Boyne, lie the noble ruins of Mellifont, the first Cistercian monastery to be established in Ireland. Founded in 1142 by St. Malachy, the monastery was consecrated amidst great pomp and ceremony in 1157 at a great national synod attended by seventeen bishops and the High King. The new monastic order was successful in re-introducing discipline into what has become a very lax Irish Church. Over forty other Cistercian monasteries w...

Little or nothing is known of the history of the monastery; its name signifies 'Island of the Foreigners'. Two churches remain. St. Patrick's was originally a simple rectangular church, with a flat-headed doorway, but a chancel was later added to it. Linked to it by an old roadway is The Saint's Church, which is a Romanesque nave-and-chancel church restored in the last century by Sir Benjamin Guinness.

Its main feature is the fine Romanesque west doorway with heads on the capitals an...

Shortly after the Norman invasion, about 1206, a hospital for the sick and infirm was founded here by Ursus de Swemele and his wife Christina, the care of the hospital being put in charge of a religious community. By the end of the 13th century, it was taken over by the Augustinians or Crutched Friars, and the subsequent history of the Abbey was an uneventful one. After a period of decline it was reformed by the Observantines in 1519.

At the dissolution of the monasteries, after the Re...

Nendrum owes its origin to St Mochaoi who died before 500, and who is said to have been converted to Christianity by St. Patrick. It may not have developed into a monastery until the 7th century, when its island location made it easily accessible by sea, though this later proved a disadvantage when it probably fell a prey to the Vikings.
The location of the ancient monastery was rediscovered by Bishop Reeves in 1844, and Lawlor's extensive, if inadequately recorded, archaeological ex...

Famous for its perfect 12th-century round tower and ruined Augustinian abbey. Intricately carved 15th-century high cross in graveyard. Small museum. Ferry with a capacity of 12 is licensed for 199 departs Trory Point, 5 km from Enniskillen on A32 direction towards Irvinestown. Contact Mr William McFrederick, Historic Monuments Branch, Enniskillen....

An island monastery, the ruins of which include a 12th century church with an intact Romanesque doorway and six unusual stone statues of 9th/10th century....