Monasteries and Abbeys in Co. Clare
3 places
1.Quin Friary
A 15th-century friary built inside a castle
Quin Friary is a remarkably intact 15th-century Franciscan friary built inside the ruins of an Anglo-Norman castle, and its small cloister is among the best preserved in the country.
- Highlights
- Well-preserved 15th-century mendicant cloister
- Medieval stone high altar still in place
- Rare early 17th-century stucco crucifixion
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
2.Ennis Friary
350 friars, 600 pupils and medieval carvings
A medieval Franciscan friary in the heart of Ennis, once home to 350 friars and a famous school, and still packed with vivid fifteenth-century limestone carvings.
- Highlights
- Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century limestone carvings
- St Francis displaying the stigmata
- Christ with his hands bound, on the nave-transept arch
- Facilities
- Wheelchair access
3.Clare Abbey
Free-to-wander 12th-century Augustinian abbey ruin
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.
- Highlights
- The first, largest and most important Augustinian house in County Clare
- Square 15th-century belfry tower with no internal staircase
- Three traceried windows, one with a carved human face above the hood