Boyle Abbey: Where Romanesque Meets Gothic
Roscommon, Ireland
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Cistercian Wanderer
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200
XP
1 day
Boyle Abbey: Where Romanesque Meets Gothic
200 XP
Founded in 1161 under the patronage of the Mac Diarmada kings of Moylurg, Boyle Abbey was one of the most powerful of Ireland's early Cistercian houses and is among the best preserved — and one of the few buildings where you can stand inside and read six decades of architectural change in a single glance along the nave.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk the nave from east to west and find where the stone changes — Romanesque at the chancel end, Early Gothic at the west, sixty years of building in one glance
2
of 4
Find the modifications made by Elizabethan soldiers in 1592 when the abbey was requisitioned as a barracks — look for blocked arches, inserted floors and garrison adaptations made to medieval sacred spaces
3
of 4
Study the carved capitals in the nave arcade — Cistercian rule demanded plain stonework, but the local masons sometimes added faces and foliage anyway; find the ones that broke the rules
4
of 4
Walk or cycle the 3km to Lough Key — the Mac Diarmada kings built this abbey and ruled from Castle Island, and the distance between the two is the point
Walk the nave from east to west and find where the stone changes — Romanesque at the chancel end, Early Gothic at the west, sixty years of building in one glance
Find the modifications made by Elizabethan soldiers in 1592 when the abbey was requisitioned as a barracks — look for blocked arches, inserted floors and garrison adaptations made to medieval sacred spaces
Study the carved capitals in the nave arcade — Cistercian rule demanded plain stonework, but the local masons sometimes added faces and foliage anyway; find the ones that broke the rules
Walk or cycle the 3km to Lough Key — the Mac Diarmada kings built this abbey and ruled from Castle Island, and the distance between the two is the point
Before you go
Boyle Abbey opens daily from mid-March to mid-September only, 10:00–18:00 with last admission at 17:15 — outside that you can only see it from the road.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
200 XP
Potential total
200 XP
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