Monastery information | |
---|---|
Established | 580s |
People | |
Founder(s) | Saint Columba |
Architecture | |
Heritage designation | National Monument |
Site | |
Location | Near |
Coordinates | 53°19′33″N 7°31′11″W / 53.325952°N 7.519670°W |
Public access | Yes |
Official name | Durrow |
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.