Jedpoint AbbeyJun 25, 2012
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This was Cistercian abbey founded in the second half of the 12th...
It is Romanesque in style
It was abandoned like all Catholic churches and monasteries by Henry the...
| It was a short drive on a sunny day (!) to |Thomastown, Ireland, for our guided tour of this quite-well preserved 1180 Cistercian Abbey. (These monks broke off from the Benedictine monks because they felt the B's were not strict and austere enough!) Our excellent guide did a marvelous job of describing the way the abbey was used, the routines and duties of the monks and the laymen who did most of the work around the abbey and grounds. Its cloister piers have more carvings than any other abbey in Ireland (knights, ladies, bishops, dragons, etc.) Several highly carved tombs also remain. Interestingly, if local people die and have ancestors buried in the cemetery here, they can be, too, but no 'new' folks are allowed. |
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