Notice
Innisfallen Abbey is a state-owned National Monument in the care of the Office of Public Works
WARNING: It should be noted that these sites are unguided and a level of care and caution should be maintained during all stages of your visit. The Office Of Public Works (OPW) will not be held responsible for any damages, injuries, or losses that occur
Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Innisfallen Abbey is a series of monastic ruins on Innisfallen Island at the centre of Lough Leane in Killarney Co. Kerry. The first monastery on the island was founded by a Saint Finian in the year 640. Due to there being several saints of that name in early medieval Ireland it is unclear which Saint Finian was the founder, but most scholars agree that it was probably either St Finian the Leper, who was a disciple of St. Columba, or St. Finan Cam of Corcha Dhuibhne. Regardless of which Saint Finian founded it, the island was probably chosen as the site for a monastery because of its isolatated location so that the monks could live like hermits, or the “desert fathers” of the Old Testament.
The very earliest monastic buildings and churches on the island would have been made from wood, and no trace of them now survives. The monastery is best known as the location where “The Annals of Innisfallen” were written, which chronicle the early history of Ireland from 433 to 1450. The Annals also contain a fragment account of the pre-history of ancient Ireland from the 5th century BC to the 5th century AD. The Annals also record several Viking raids on their own monastery, as well as an attack on them by the Irish O’Donoghue clan in 1180. “Innisfallen was plundered by Mal Duin, son of Donal O’Donoghue, and much gold and silver was taken out of the church.” After the Norman invasion of Ireland in the late 12th century the monastery on Innisfallen came under the control of the Augustinians who renamed it the Priory of Saint Mary. In 1582 Queen Elizabeth I forced the closure of the monastery and granted both it and the island to Sir Richard Collum, but by the end of the 16th century these properties had passed into the ownership of Sir Valentine Browne the Earl of Kenmare. In the late 17th and early 18th century the Earl’s descendants developed the island as a tourist attraction. By the beginning of the 20th century Innisfallen was in the ownership of the McShain family who, in 1973, passed Innisfallen Island into state ownership as part of the Killarney National Park.
The first church visitors to the island encounter what is known as “The Oratory” and is located near the lake shore. It has a beautifully carved sandstone Romanesque doorway decorated in a classic Hiberno-Norman style with chevrons and stylised animal heads. This doorway dates to the 12th century, but other features of the building indicate an earlier date possibly as early as the 10th century. The stone cross now erected in the centre of this church was discovered in the lake nearby. The largest building on the island is known as “The Abbey Church” dating to the 12th century; however its simple rectangular western door, built with a straight sandstone lintel, appears to have been reused from an earlier church built in the Irish style. This church has two narrow east windows above a stone altar beside which is a carved stone “piscine”, used to wash the chalice after communion. A corner piece of sandstone on one of the walls of this church depicts a bearded male figure possibly representing Saint Finian, or one of the monasteries early abbots. There are the ruins of another small early Irish church on the island as well as the remains of a domestic building, possibly an Augustinian ‘chapter house’ and a cloister. The island also has a ‘bullaun stone’; these stones date from the early medieval period and are most commonly found in association with monastic sites throughout Ireland. The bowl-shaped hollows in these stones appear to have been used to grind material, either for food preparation or as part of an industrial process.
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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014
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Nearby sites to visit
Ross Castle
A lakeside citadel steeped in legend
Approx. 1.6 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Ilnacullin – Garinish Island
An island garden of rare beauty
Approx. 34.4 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Ardfert Cathedral
A trio of medieval churches devoted to St Brendan
Approx. 35.1 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Listowel Castle
The last bastion of the Fitzmaurices
Approx. 44.5 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Daniel O’Connell House – Derrynane House
The childhood home of Daniel O’Connell
Approx. 50.6 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey
Desmond Castle Newcastlewest
Where sounds of medieval revelry echo around the walls
Approx. 56.1 km from Innisfallen Augustinian Abbey