CULTURE: Exploring Quin Abbey, Co. Clare

Written by Ben Kesp

Recently I visited what can only be described as a beautiful and excellently preserved 15th century structure of Quin Abbey in Co. Clare, Ireland. 

Quin Abbey in the village of Quin, is a ruined Franciscan abbey dating from 1402. The abbey or friary occupies an earlier site of the Anglo-Norman de Clare fortress built in 1278 and destroyed in 1318. Quin abbey continued functioning until 1820. 

Today it is a National Monument and one of the most intact medieval Franciscan friaries in Ireland.