Founded in 1178 as a daughter house of Boyle Abbey, this Cistercian monastery endured centuries of turmoil before its suppression in the late 16th century. The monastery’s troubles weren’t limited to its final days; in 1398, it suffered plundering at the hands of Niall Óg O’Neill, one of many violent episodes that marked medieval Irish religious houses.

Today, only fragments of the church remain visible, with the most substantial survivor being a section of the south wall that now serves as the graveyard boundary. Standing approximately 9 metres high, the wall comprises rubble and split stone construction with sandstone dressings, though modern sheds have been built against its exterior face. The west gable partially survives with its north return, featuring a splayed window opening in its upper section. The interior width of the church measured just over 8 metres, modest by Cistercian standards but typical of Irish daughter houses.

Scattered throughout the cemetery are numerous carved stone fragments dating from the late 12th and early 13th centuries, silent witnesses to the abbey’s former architectural splendour. When the graveyard wall was reconstructed in the 19th century under the direction of Dr. D. MacGettigan, Catholic Bishop of Raphoe from 1861 to 1870, several of these medieval treasures were incorporated into the new structure, including three capitals and a piece of cusped tracery. Recent archaeological monitoring in 2007 and 2008, conducted during sewerage works, recovered additional masonry elements near the abbey site, including what appears to be a well-faced doorjamb, suggesting that more of the monastery’s fabric may lie buried beneath centuries of accumulated soil.