North Abbey – Dominican Friary

On the north side of Youghal town’s main graveyard stands the ruins of North Abbey, or the Priory of Our Lady of Graces. The Dominican Friary was founded by Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, 2nd Baron of Desmond, in 1268, and it believed to be his eternal resting place. An ivory statue of the Madonna and child that was found here can be seen in St Mary’s Dominican Priory in Cork City. In 1587 the friary is was granted to Sir Walter Raleigh, only to be destroyed the same year.

Parts of the gable walls, a buttress wall, window arches, doorways, and part of the nave remain. A few architectural features remain visible – an engaged, clustered column, its capital decorated with a dogtooth motif and the remains of an arch springing from a jamb with a moulded capital and shaft band, with fillets and necking bands.

Experts suggest based on the style of these architectural features, and its similarity to Kilmallock Dominican Friary, that the 1^st Earl of Desmond, Maurice FitzGerald (d. 1356), who was the son of Youghal’s founder, Thomas Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, was involved in the commissioning of its decorative programme.

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This national monument is protected in accordance with the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014