Rushen Abbey, Medieval monastery in Ballasalla, Isle of Man.

Rushen Abbey is a medieval monastery in Ballasalla on the Isle of Man, now standing as a set of stone ruins along the Silverburn River. The remains show the outlines of the original buildings, and the grounds around them are planted with trees and medicinal herbs.

The monastery was founded in the early 12th century by King Olaf I, who brought monks from the Savignac order to settle here. When that order merged with the Cistercians, the site passed into Cistercian hands and remained so until it was dissolved in the 16th century.

The monks who lived here kept written records that became the main source of local history on the Isle of Man. Visitors today can see the setting where that work took place, walking through the stone remains of the spaces where the monks lived and wrote.

The abbey is open to the public between April and October, and an admission fee is charged. Visitors pass through a museum explaining the abbey's role before reaching the gardens and ruins, where walkways allow a close look at the remains. The Monks' Bridge, a packhorse bridge of around 1350, stands nearby on the Silverburn.

The Monks' Bridge, or Crossag, was built around 1350 so monks could reach their farmland north of the abbey across the Silverburn River. It is one of the few surviving packhorse bridges in the British Isles, and visitors can still walk to it from the abbey grounds.