Friars and Abbots

How did that get there?

This took some finding and we seemed to be going down country lanes in circles occasionally glimpsing towers and turrets in the distance. We eventually tracked it down in the middle of a patchwork of fields; Ross Errilly Friary, a magnificent set of extensive well preserved ruins on the Galway/Mayo boundary. This was a Franciscan community of monks until almost 200 years ago whence it was abandoned. Certainly it seems to have escaped the ravages that many other old buildings have suffered - presumably because nobody could find it! On a fine summer's day it was a very pleasant spot and we were the only visitors apart from a couple of cheerful Irish girls of about 12 years old who seemed to be practicing their mountaineering skills. On a cold winter's night however, it would be rather spooky methinks! One oddity was that there were gravestones littered around the place which were of fairly recent vintage - here's one recent burial portrayed in the foreground of the photo.

Postcard says it's an Abbey - not true!

By way of a contrast, here's an old postcard photo of the Denbigh Carmelite friary, of which there is very little remaining. I thought I'd throw this into the mix as it's literally a couple of hundred metres from our house! It's hidden away down a narrow cul de sac at the back of Townsend builder's yard and I would guess that many of the citizens of Denbigh would have no idea of where this is or that it exists at all. It certainly does not figure in the list of notable buildings of Denbigh. The problem with old ruins in towns is that they have been plundered - they were excellent sources of building stone all nicely dressed and ready to use!

Now this is an abbey as opposed to a friary - not far from us is Valle Crucis at Llangollen which is in a lovely setting. This is a Cistercian abbey (abbey or friary or priory? It depends on what make of monks are living there.) Rather spoilt in a way by all the caravans on three sides but I guess it must pay for the upkeep. This particular abbey actually had central heating (at least the abbot had it in his quarters) - I had thought that Cistercians were the hardiest of the lot! The fact is they were a pretty advanced clever bunch of monks - the Cistercian Abbey at Rievaulx in Yorkshire had an advanced working blast furnace in the fourteenth century - if Henry VIII hadn't had it all dissolved and destroyed the Industrial Revolution might have started two centuries earlier.

Nice photo but the caravans are peeping through from the back on the left hand side.