Rosserk Friary is one of the finest and best preserved examples of a Franciscan Friary left in Ireland.The Friary was founded around 1460 by a member of the Joyce family for a community of Friars of the third order of St. Francis. Married men and women who wished to lead a Franciscan life, but because of their marital status were unable to join the first order (Friars) or the second order (Nuns).
In 1590 Sir Richard Bingham, Governor of Connaught, burned Rosserk. The church has an attractive bell tower and a fine four light east window which stands at the south side of the cloister. On the opposite side is the refectory or dining hall. On the east side is a sacristy and the ‘chapter house’, above this is the dormitory. In the choir of the church is a beautiful double ‘piscina’, a recess containing a stone basin used to wash the sacred vessels used in the Mass. On one of the pillars of this piscina is a unique carving of a round tower which the stone mason must have seen in the ruins of a much older monastery or in nearby Killala, above the round tower are carvings of angels. Moyne Abbey is also one of the most impressive ecclesiastical ruins in Mayo and a National monument. It was founded by the Burke family as a Franciscan friary and consecrated in 1462. It is located north of Ballina on the west side of Killala Bay. The friary was built in the late Irish Gothic style and has extensive ruins, consisting of a church and domestic buildings situated around a central cloister. Its west doorway is a seventeenth insertion. Its east window displays fine switchline tracery. Cost:
€75 Guided tour - minimum 2 people. €50 Self Guided What is included in the price?
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