Mount Melleray Abbey, Trappist monastery in County Waterford, Ireland
Mount Melleray Abbey is a working Trappist monastery on the slopes of the Knockmealdown Mountains in County Waterford, Ireland. It includes an exhibition center that displays religious objects and documents connected to the history of the monastic community.
The monastery was founded in 1832 by Irish and English monks expelled from a monastery in Brittany, France. They rebuilt their community on a remote hillside in Ireland, far from where they had originally settled.
The grounds hold five Ogham stones, carved with one of the earliest forms of writing used in Ireland. Visitors walking through the property can see these inscriptions up close, as they remain in an outdoor setting.
Visitors can tour the exhibition center and walk the monastery grounds at their own pace. A cafe on site offers a place to stop and rest during the visit.
During the Great Famine, the monastery took in and fed refugees in 1849, a fact noted by writer Thomas Carlyle who visited at the time. His account is one of the few written records that captured this act of care from that period.
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