One of Ireland's largest Augustinian monasteries, Clare Abbey is a free, unguided ruin on the floodplain of the River Fergus just south-east of Ennis. Its 15th-century belfry tower and traceried windows survive among a grassy cloister, old graveyard and domestic ranges.
The interior ground was later used for local burials, and a large Victorian tomb for Thomas Crowe of Dromore House was raised in the east range in 1871. An incised post-Norman cross and other sculptural details reward a slow look.
The long single-aisle church is split by a square 15th-century belfry tower set between nave and chancel, and it has no staircase to its upper floors. In the tower piers look for a tomb niche and the corbel stones that once carried a rood loft.
Three surviving traceried windows are the site's finest stonework. The chancel's pointed three-light east window hides a small carved human face above its hood, while the south gable of the east range carries an elaborate six-trefoil and quatrefoil design.
Two ranges of domestic buildings, east and south, surround a grassy cloister garth; unusually, no west range was ever built. The south range held the kitchen and refectory, still readable from its central fireplace.
The River Fergus Walk & Cycleway, a roughly 5 km loop, links the abbey to the Quin Road in Ennis along the riverbank - a far nicer approach than the road. On foot from Ennis town centre it is about 45-50 minutes.
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