friaries clare

The Friary was founded for the Franciscan Friars by Donchad Cairbreach O'Brien, King of Thomond, sometime shortly before his death in 1242. In the following decades, the church must have suffered much damage, for the only considerable part remaining from the earliest foundation is the choir with its beautiful 5-light east window. Donchad's opponent and successor, Turlough O'Brien, repaired the church and enlarged on his predecessors work in 1287 and again in 1306, and put in blue stained glass...

The Ennis Friary, is a Franciscan Friary founded by the O'Briens Kings of Thomond, in the 13th century. The site was originally on an island in the River Fergus aroudn which the modern town of Ennis has grown. Its monuments are famous, notably the McMahon tomb (15th century) with carvings of the Passion of Our Lord....

A church which stood on the site was burned in 1278, but two years later DeClare built it up as a castle forming a square with massive rounded towers at the corners. Parts of these towers still survive. In 1236 the garrison killed an Irish chief called O'Liddy, whereupon the Irish under Cuvea Macnamara attacked and ransacked the castle. By 1350 another church was built on top of the castle ruins, but much of this church was renewed by Sioda Cam Macnamara around 1433 when the Franciscans were...