abbeys westmeath

Fore, approximately 15 miles from Mullingar has the most extensive Benedictine remains in Ireland. It is the site of the ruins of St. Fechin's Monastery and was a Benedictine Priory until 1539 when it was suppressed by Henry VIII.

The present building belongs in the main to the 15th century. There are nine ancient crosses within a radius of a mile from the village. Near the foot of Ben Fore (713 feet) is a large moat, reputed to be an early Anglo-Norman Fortification. There are a...

An Early Christian monastery was founded here around 630 by St. Feichin who died of the plague in 664-5. At one time there were 300 monks in the monastery. It was burned in 771, 830 and again in 870, and a number of times in the course of the 11th and 12th centuries. From this old monastery one church - St. Feichin's - survives, standing in a graveyard above the road. Originally it was a simple rectangular building with antae, and with a Greek corss in relief over the flat-headed doorway. A c...