St. Mary's Abbey is a medieval

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

and

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

located in

Duleek Duleek (; ) is a small town in County Meath, Ireland. Duleek takes its name from the Irish word ''daimh liag'', meaning house of stones and referring to an early stone-built church, St Cianán's Church, the ruins of which are still visible in Du ...

, Ireland.

Location

St. Mary's Abbey is located in the central part of Duleek called the Commons, between Main Street and Church Lane. The Nanny River is to the southwest.

History

A monastery stood in Duleek from the 5th century. A

round tower A fortified tower (also defensive tower or castle tower or, in context, just tower) is one of the defensive structures used in fortifications, such as castles, along with curtain walls. Castle towers can have a variety of different shapes and ful ...

stood here; it was damaged by

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

in 1147 but survived a few more centuries. In 1180

Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath, 4th Baron Lacy (; before 1135 – 25 July 1186), was an Anglo-Norman landowner and royal office-holder. He had substantial land holdings in Herefordshire and Shropshire. Following his participation in the Norman Inva ...

granted

(including St. Patrick's Church) to the

Canons Regular Canons regular are priests who live in community under a rule ( and canon in greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a ...

. However, the surviving buildings are later: the southern

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

is 13th century, the southern aisle and

bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...

are 15th century and the main tower and the east

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

with window are 16th century. The abbey was shut down in the 1537 Dissolution of the Monasteries. The Abbey was later used for burials. James Cusack, Catholic

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Unti ...

1679–88, was buried in an effigial tomb. Also buried here is

John Bellew, 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek John Bellew, 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek (died 12 January 1692) was an Irish Jacobitism, Jacobite soldier and politician. Biography Bellew was the son of was son of Sir Christopher Bellew of Bellewstown and Frances Plunkett, a daughter of Matthew ...

who died of wounds received at the

Battle of Aughrim The Battle of Aughrim ( ga, Cath Eachroma) was the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. It was fought between the largely Irish Jacobite army loyal to James II and the forces of William III on 12 July 1691 (old style, equivalent ...

, and his second son,

Richard Bellew, 3rd Baron Bellew of Duleek Richard Bellew, 3rd Baron Bellew of Duleek (c.1671 – 22 March 1715) was an Irish soldier, peer and politician. Biography Bellew was the second son of John Bellew, 1st Baron Bellew of Duleek and Mary Bermingham. He joined his father as a supporte ...

. Saint Kienan's, a

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

church, was built next to the old abbey in 1816.

Buildings

All that remains is the south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

and the tower. The tower survives with four stories with

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s, battered walls,

battlements A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...

aumbry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church for storing sacred vesse ...

and stairs

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

. The east window (bearing the arms of Sir John Bellew and Dame Ismay Nugent beneath it) is a 1587 post-

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

replacement. In the north wall of the medieval belfry is the scar or shadow of a round tower.

References

{{Authority control Christian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Churches in County Meath Archaeological sites in County Meath National monuments in County Meath