St Mary’s Carmelite Priory was founded in the 13th century for the Carmelites by Richard de Burgo, 2nd Earl of Ulster. The church consists of a nave, chancel, tower, south transept and a small south chapel near the west end of the nave. It was extended in 1437 and this seems to be when a lot of the work on the nave appears to have taken place also when the tower was added. The Carmelite friars lived at the Priory until 1618, a new order arrived in 1643 but by then the Priory was almost destroyed. The Priory was under the protection of the Earls of Clanricarde until it was despoiled by Cromwellian troops in 1652. The Priory was no longer used after this date. The graveyard that surrounds the Priory is said to be the final resting place of General St. Ruth, the commander of some of the Jacobite forces at the Battle of Aughrim 1691 whose remains were said to have been interred here at a nocturnal burial.

GPS: 53.19987, -8.57014