Quin Abbey (

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

: ''Mainistir Chuinche''), in

Quin, County Clare Quin () is a village in southeast County Clare, Ireland. The name also refers to a civil parish in the barony of Bunratty Upper, and to an ecclesiastical parish of the same name. The main attraction in the vicinity is Quin Abbey, the ruins o ...

, Ireland, was built between 1402 and 1433 by Sioda Cam MacNamara, for Fathers Purcell and Mooney,

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

of the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

order. Although mostly roofless, the structure of the abbey is relatively well preserved. There is an intact cloister, and many other surviving architectural features make the friary of significant historical value. A far earlier monastery had existed on the site but burned down in 1278. A Norman castle was built soon after by Thomas de Clare, a military commander. The foundations of the castle's enormous corner towers can still be seen. Around 1350 the castle, by then a ruin, was rebuilt as a church by the McNamara clan. The abbey was rebuilt using the south curtain-wall of the old castle. It was this structure which the MacNamaras subsequently rebuilt as the present abbey, properly called a friary. In 1541, during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, King Henry VIII confiscated the friary and it passed into the hands of Conor O'Brian, Earl of Thomond. In about 1590 the MacNamaras regained control of the site and once again set about repairing and restoring it. In about 1640 the building became a college and is alleged to have had 800 students.

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

arrived only 10 years later, brutally murdering the friars and destroying the friary. In 1671 the building was once again restored, but never regained its former status. Eventually in 1760 the friars were expelled, although the last Friar, John Hogan, remained there until his death in 1820, by which time the buildings were ruined by neglect. C. P. Meehan, ''The Rise & Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries''; James Duffy & Sons, Dublin 1877. A visitor centre is located near the building and the structure and grounds can be visited free of charge. A caretaker is permanently based at the monument. Floodlighting has recently been installed. The graveyard surrounding the friary is still in use. The abbey is roughly from Ennis.

References

* List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Clare)

External links

Quin Franciscan Friary, Monastic Ireland

{{Tourism in County Clare Churches completed in 1350 Religious buildings and structures completed in 1433 1433 establishments in Ireland Franciscan monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Buildings and structures in County Clare Religion in County Clare Ruins in the Republic of Ireland Christian monasteries established in the 15th century National Monuments in County Clare Ruined abbeys and monasteries 14th-century churches in Ireland