The Grace Dieu Abbey was an Augustinian abbey in County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded about 1190 by

John Comyn John Comyn III of Badenoch, nicknamed the Red (c. 1274 – 10 February 1306), was a leading Scottish baron and magnate who played an important role in the First War of Scottish Independence. He served as Guardian of Scotland after the forced ...

Archbishop of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Irelan ...

, to house an order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Augustine. It derived most of its income from lands at Lusk and

Swords, County Dublin Swords ( or ), the county town of Fingal, is a large suburban town on the east coast of Ireland, situated ten kilometres north of Dublin city centre. The town was reputedly founded . Located on the Ward River, Swords features Swords Castle, ...

. Over the centuries it became mainly a refuge for the unmarried daughters of the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the establis ...

landowners of the Pale, and no doubt for this reason, at the Dissolution of the Monasteries there were pleas for its continuance. Nonetheless, it was suppressed in 1541 and acquired by Patrick Barnewall, the Solicitor General for Ireland. Patrick's son Sir

Christopher Barnewall Sir Christopher Barnewall (1522–1575) was a leading Anglo-Irish statesman of the Pale in the 1560s and 1570s. He was the effective Leader of the Opposition in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament of 1568–71. He is remembered for buil ...

built Turvey House nearby, reputedly from the stones of Grace Dieu, of which only ruins now survive. Christopher did find a refuge for the dispossessed nuns at

Portrane Portrane or Portraine (Irish: ''Port Reachrann'') is a small seaside settlement, three kilometres from,the small town of Donabate in Fingal, Ireland. It lies in the Barony of Nethercross, in the historic County Dublin. Portrane has a long sa ...

. Turvey House itself was demolished in controversial circumstances in 1987 on the orders of Dublin County Council, a step later described by conservationists as a "tragedy"."Still in the dark over the Turvey House tragedy" ''Irish Times'' 19 January 2000

References

See also