FRANCISCAN FRIARY, CASTLEDERMOT

From Atlas and Cyclopedia of Ireland (1900)

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Description of County Kildare | Maynooth College | Franciscan Friary, Castledermot | Round Tower, Castledermot | Kildare Map

CASTLEDERMOT ABBEY.—This splendid relic of Irish ecclesiastical architecture dates its origin from about the year 800, when it was built by Diarmid, son of King Aedh Roin, of Ulidia. During the Danish incursions and the Anglo-Norman wars it was repeatedly plundered and burned, but was as often rebuilt or restored, until the year 1650, when it was partly destroyed by the sacrilegious Cromwellian soldiery, and in the turbulent and persecuting period that followed, it was left to decay. Yet enough of the structure remains to attest its former splendor, the archways and some of the windows still being in a fair state of preservation. It was the home of the Franciscans, that heroic order that during the penal days so unflinchingly braved the sword of persecution, and faithfully ministered to the Irish Catholics. There are many other abbeys and remains of noted structures in the county of Kildare, around which storied memories cling as thickly as the ivy that covers their walls.

Franciscan Friary, Castledermot, County Kildare

Franciscan Friary, Castledermot

Description of County Kildare | Maynooth College | Franciscan Friary, Castledermot | Round Tower, Castledermot | Kildare Map

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