Durrow Abbey

Durrow Abbey
Durrow Abbey in 2013
Monastery information
Established580s
People
Founder(s)Saint Columba
Architecture
Heritage designationNational Monument
Site
LocationNear
Coordinates53°19′33″N 7°31′11″W / 53.325952°N 7.519670°W / 53.325952; -7.519670
Public accessYes
Official nameDurrow
Reference no.678 & 313[1]

Durrow Abbey is a historic site in Durrow, County Offaly in Ireland.[2] It is located off the N52 some 5 miles from Tullamore. Largely undisturbed, the site is an early medieval monastic complex of ecclesiastical and secular monuments, visible and sub-surface.

The extant monuments at the site include a large ecclesiastical enclosure, five Early Christian grave slabs, a mid-ninth century high cross, a fragment of a cross shaft, a complete cross-head (housed in the National Museum of Ireland) and cross base, a holy well and other archaeological features. Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath built a motte for the abbey in 1180, and he was killed at the abbey in 1186 by an Irishman.

  1. ^ "National Monuments of County Offaly in State Care" (PDF). heritageireland.ie. National Monument Service. p. 1. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  2. ^ "1860 – Durrow Abbey, Durrow, Co. Offaly". Archiseek.com. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 14 November 2018.