We already visited this abbey on June 2nd, 2001, but this time we stopped and took some new photos and the coordinates.
Dunbrody abbey was a Cistercian monastery. It measures 59 metres of length and it's one of the longest churches in Ireland. The construction of the Dunbrody abbey began in 1170 upon the request of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, also known as Strongbow, and was conducted by Herve de Montmorency (his uncle), following the Norman invasion of Ireland. It was completed in 1220, but additions to the original plan continued for some years. The tower was added in 15th century.
Herve de Montmorency granted the lands to the monks of Bildewas in Shropshire (England), provided that they should build the abbey for some monks of the Cistercian, or White Order (they wore white robes), and provided that there should be a Sanctuary in the abbey for all malefactors.
The church is dedicated to "St. Mary the ever Blessed Virgin, and St. Benedict" and it has sometimes been called the Abbey of St. Mary de Port, for the refuge it contained by the express condition of its founder.
Herve de Montmorency was the first abbot of Dunbrody, died in 1205, at the age of 75, and was buried in the abbey.
The abbey's end started when Alexander Devereux, the last abbot of Dunbrody, granted the Abbey and all its possessions to the king, his heirs and successors, in 1542. Alexander Devereux changed religion, and became the Bishop of Ferns. The lands and abbey then came into the possession of the Etchingham family. In 1642, Jane Etchingham, the heiress, married the second Earl of Donegall, whose descendants (Chichester family) own the lands to this day.
The access to the abbey is granted in some hours of the day during the Summer. When we visited the place the office was already closed so we had to visit it from the outside.
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