Duiske Abbey

Duiske Abbey ( Irish Mainistir to Dubhuisce, also Graiguenamanagh Abbey ) is a department in the Irish village of Graiguenamanagh, barony of Gowran, north of New Ross in the Barrow Valley of County Kilkenny.

It was once the largest of the 24 Cistercian monasteries in Ireland and is now the best preserved and restored. The name comes from the Gaelic term for black water ( Dubh - Uisce ) - the name of the river ( Blackwater ), which flows nearby.

William Marshall ( Earl of Pembroke, a ) and monks from Wiltshire laid in 1204 ( the 800th anniversary took place, although there are data for 1207 and 1212 ) the foundation of the Abbey. The monastery was a daughter house of Stanley Abbey, which was in turn founded Quarr Abbey, a daughter house of the monastery of Savigny. Savigny had joined in 1147 with his congregation the Cistercian order and placed under the primary Clairvaux Abbey.

The Abbey

The built of yellow limestone church consists of the long, provided with a wooden ceiling ship, with four transverse aisles and the choir. The present church floor is about two meters above the old. After the restoration of the 19th century, parts of the old walls, arches and capitals are visible again. At one point you can climb down to view the decorated portal of the former southern entrance to the 13th century. After dissolution of the monastery in 1536 the property passed to the Butlers of Ormond, and in 1703 to the agar. 1728 a chapel on the south wall of the lateral tract was built. In 1774, the original octagonal tower collapsed. As of 1813, the church was restored to a large extent. The western end was completed in 1886.

West side of the High Crosses

East side of the High Crosses

High Crosses

At the cemetery south of the chancel are two small high crosses made ​​of granite that were brought here, one of Ballyogan, with the representation of King David, the Sacrifice of Isaac, Adam and Eve, and the Crucifixion on the east- and spiral patterns on the west side. The second cross is from Aghailta and shows the Crucifixion and knot pattern. An old grave stone with a cross symbol stands nearby.

The place was much talked about, because here on March 3, 1831 took place the first conflict in the course of the decade of war. The Catholic priest of Graiguenamanagh, had convinced with the consent of his bishop, the people in the vicinity thereof, to refuse payment of tithing.