Inch Abbey Down
Inch Abbey on the banks of the River Quoile near Downpatrick in County Down is a Cistercian abbey of the late twelfth century whose ruined but substantial remains stand in a tranquil riverside setting of considerable beauty, the combination of the pointed Gothic arches of the church windows, the green grass of the former cloister and the river and marshland of the Quoile providing one of the most quietly atmospheric monastic ruins in Ulster. The abbey was founded by John de Courcy, the Norman lord who conquered Ulster in the 1170s, for Cistercian monks from Furness Abbey in Lancashire.
The Gothic architecture of Inch Abbey represents the Norman-Cistercian building tradition transplanted to Ireland in its earliest phase, the pointed arches and the austere decorative programme of the building reflecting the Cistercian aesthetic of simplicity and spiritual concentration. The church is the most substantial surviving building, its west doorway and the windows of the north transept preserving some of the finest Early Gothic stonework in County Down.
The natural setting of the abbey on the edge of the Quoile marshes, a freshwater lagoon and marsh habitat created by the construction of a tidal barrier on the River Quoile in 1957, provides excellent birdwatching and the combination of the ecclesiastical heritage and the wetland nature reserve makes Inch Abbey one of the more varied heritage and natural destinations in the Down landscape.