WWQP Bulletin Board Chat

Mellifont Abbey in Ireland

I hope the text in the second photo is readable. (Click on photo to enlarge) This is Mellifont Abbey, the first of the Cistercian Abbeys, built in the 1100s. The top photo is of the Lavabo, a gravity fed font where the monks washed their hands, etc. This abbey is the only one with a Lavabo, of all the abbey ruins we visited. The place has quite a history, and is in a beautiful setting.

We visited lots of Abbey ruins, ad nauseum, LOL, and found them fascinating. The architecture was quite the same in all of them and apparently they all followed the same basic blueprint. Not much remains of these places, as the locals would use the stones for other purposes (think: recycling) after these abbeys were abandoned.

posted by Doris W. in TN @ 9:54 AM