Founded sometime after 1537 by Manus O’Donnell for the Franciscan Third Order Regular, the friary represents one of the later religious foundations in Ireland, established during a period when such institutions were already under threat from Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. Today, only fragments of the original rectangular church survive; the eastern half of the south wall with a portion of the east gable rises to about 5 metres, whilst a mere metre of the west gable still stands. The church measured approximately 25.3 metres by 6.1 metres internally, with nave and chancel forming one continuous space without any structural division, typical of smaller religious houses of this period.

The ruins tell a story of gradual decay and stone robbing that was all too common for Ireland’s ecclesiastical buildings. Built from roughly-coursed rubble with some quarried blocks and thin horizontal pinnings, the friary once featured dressed ashlar quoins at its corners, though these have long since vanished. Historical accounts from the 19th century paint a picture of more substantial remains; in 1846, antiquarian Fagan described walls standing between 10 and 25 feet high, with large windows in each gable and two in the south wall, plus a door at the western end. By then, however, all the cut stonework had already been stripped away. The only surviving architectural detail within the ruins is a simple wall press at the eastern end of the south wall, whilst two rough gaps indicate where windows once brought light into the sacred space.

The fate of the friary’s dressed stones is particularly well documented, offering insights into how medieval buildings were recycled in later centuries. Some of the carved stonework, including pieces from doors and windows along with a mitred head, was incorporated into a now-demolished Protestant church that once stood to the southeast. Other fragments found their way into the fabric of the current Church of Ireland parish church nearby, where they can still be seen today. The graveyard wall, built directly onto the northern wall of the church, preserves a section of the original friary wall in its exterior face, serving as one of the few remaining connections to the building’s monastic past.