Monastic Sites
Discover Ireland's ancient monasteries and abbeys that shaped the spiritual landscape
Kildare — Grey Abbey
Order: Franciscan Friars Minor
Franciscan Friars Minor, Conventual founded c.1254 by the ancestors of the Earls of Kildare or 1260 by Gerald Fitz Maurice, Lord Offaly or William de Vescy; Observant Franciscan Friars refounded 1520;…
Kildare — White Abbey
Order: Carmelite Friars
Carmelite Friars founded 1290 by William de Vescy; dissolved April 1539, surrendered by the prior; granted to William Dickson; new church built 1884
Kildare Abbey
Order: Arroasian
early monastic site, nuns; founded 5th century (c.430) by St Brigid; monks and nuns double monastery before 528; plundered a number of times; Augustinian nuns — Arroasian? founded after 1171?; episcopal diocesan cathedral built in…