Inch Abbey, Downpatrick
Inch Abbey, Downpatrick
Inch Abbey is a ruined Cistercian monastery on the north bank of the River Quoile, on the outskirts of Downpatrick, County Down. It is a scheduled historic monument in state care (SM DOW 037:005), managed by the Historic Environment Division of the Department for Communities.
- Location
- Downpatrick, County Down
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- County
- County Down
- City / town
- Downpatrick
- Address
- Inch Abbey Road, Downpatrick, County Down, BT30 9AX
- Postcode
- BT30 9AX
- Built
- Late 12th and 13th centuries; Cistercian house founded by John de Courcy
- Denomination
- Scheduled Ancient Monument (ruin)
- Style
- Early Gothic Cistercian
- Materials
- Stone; cruciform church with lancet windows
- Grid reference
- J 476 454
- Opening hours
- Dawn to dusk.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
The Department for Communities records that John de Courcy founded the abbey in atonement for his destruction of Erenagh Abbey, about three miles to the south. The standing buildings are mainly of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Wikipedia and the Cistercians in Yorkshire Project note that de Courcy and his wife Affreca settled monks from Furness Abbey in Lancashire at the new house, and that the abbey was dissolved in 1541, after which the site was granted to Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare.
The church follows a typical Cistercian cruciform plan: an un-aisled chancel with three tall pointed lancets to the east, an aisled nave to the west, and north and south transepts each with paired chapels. A low square crossing tower once stood at the intersection. Domestic ranges and the cloister lay to the south-east; only foundations survive. An earlier monastery called Inis Cumhscraigh is recorded here from about 800 and was plundered in 1001 and 1149, when the site was still an island in the Quoile marshes.
The ruins are open free of charge. A surfaced path runs from the car park; the ground beyond is gently undulating.