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Ballindoon Abbey also known as St Mary’s Priory is located on the eastern shore of Lough Arrow about 2 km north of ArrowRock Hostel.
Access is by a small gate alongside the road. If visiting please close the gate and remember that the surrounding graveyard is still in regular use.
The drawing on the right is by Wakeman, from 1878 and as you can see the abbey has changed little in the last 130 years.
Ballindoon Abbey is built entirely in the Middle English Gothic Style, not the more normal combination of architectural styles from different periods. The roof is gone and the interior has been used for burials, but otherwise it is a well preserved ruin consisting of a church with a nave, a tower, a chancel and a transept. A unique feature of the design and of interest to
experts is the structure that divides the nave from the chancel.
The central tower has six arched openings to the nave, the two central of which open to the chancel. The upper storey may be reached by a hazardous stone stairway on the outer wall,
leading to the gallery with a high central arch.
It is thought that the tower may have been used as living accommodation at one time.
According to the "Annals of Lough Ce" it was founded by the McDonaghs in 1507 as a Dominican Friary although some sources claim it was built by Thomas O’Farrell.
Despite continued persecution under English rule, the Dominicans remained in the area for centuries and continued to use the abbey for Mass although the the abbey had been
granted to the King family of Boyle and Rockingham in 1288.
There are memorials within the abbey going back as far as the 17th century.
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