Athenry Abbey

Athenry Abbey is a 13th-century Dominican friary founded in 1241 by the Norman lord Meiler de Bermingham in the town of Athenry, County Galway, and dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul. Its grey limestone Gothic church is one of the best-preserved medieval ecclesiastical structures in Connacht. The friars survived the Reformation initially, but the catastrophic town fire of 1597 forced a first abandonment. In a remarkable chapter, the abbey's school was elevated to university status in 1644 — an institution that lasted only briefly before the surrounding warfare made it untenable. The community was finally expelled in 1698. Designated a National Monument, the site is freely accessible today; the nave with pointed-arch arcades, much of the perimeter walls, and parts of the cloister remain standing.