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Grey Abbey, Down

Grey Abbey (Irish: An Mhainistir Liath)[1] is a ruined Cistercian priory in Greyabbey, County Down, Northern Ireland. Currently maintained by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, it is a monument in state care in the townland of Rosemount, on the eastern edge of the village of Greyabbey in the Ards and North Down local government district.[2][3]

History

Grey Abbey was founded in 1193[4] by John de Courcy's wife, Affreca.[5]

Plan of the abbey, drawn in 1874.

Grey Abbey is unique among Cistercian sites in that it had a female patron.[6]

The pointed arches on the lancet windows and elsewhere in the abbey are one of the earliest examples of Early Gothic architecture in the island of Ireland, and the earliest example in what is now Northern Ireland.[7]

  • View of Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland
    View of Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland
  • Detail of Memorial Plaque, Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland
    Detail of Memorial Plaque, Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland
  • Nave, Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland
    Nave, Grey Abbey, County Down, Northern Ireland

References

  1. ^ "An Mhainistir Liath/Grey Abbey". logainm.ie. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Grey Abbey" (PDF). Environment and Heritage Service NI – State Care Historic Monuments. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  3. ^ Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (1983). Historic Monuments of Northern Ireland. Belfast: HMSO. p. 102.
  4. ^ Illustrated Dictionary of Irish History. Mac Annaidh, S (ed). Gill and Macmillan, Dublin. 2001
  5. ^ Sandford, Ernest (1976). Discover Northern Ireland. Belfast: NI Tourist Board. p. 197. ISBN 0-9500222-7-6.
  6. ^ Meehan, Cary (2004). Sacred Ireland. Somerset: Gothic Image Publications. p. 202. ISBN 0 906362 43 1.
  7. ^ Villages by the Sea, BBC TV, series 4:9, Greyabbey, 4 March 2025.

54°32′09″N 5°33′30″W / 54.5358°N 5.5583°W / 54.5358; -5.5583