St John's Abbey, Augustinian monastery in Kilkenny, Ireland
St. John's Abbey is a medieval Augustinian monastery in Kilkenny featuring stone ruins with a seven-light window on the east side. The structure contains late medieval tombs adorned with detailed carved religious figures and decorative stonework.
The Canons Regular had a house on John Street before 1200, and in 1211 William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, granted land for the Priory of St John the Evangelist. Mass was first said in 1220, and around 1227 the Augustinians received the churches of Saint Evin and Saint Mary in New Ross. The Lady Chapel was completed in 1290, but the bell-tower collapsed in 1329.
The chapel remains active as a parish church and shows architectural features built across different medieval periods. The space continues to serve as a place for worship much as it did centuries ago.
St John's Abbey stands on the east bank of the River Nore, at the corner of Michael Street and John Street, a short walk from Kilkenny's medieval centre. The Lady Chapel, re-roofed in 1817, is still an active Church of Ireland parish church with weekly Sunday services, so visitors should time their look inside around worship. The roofless chancel ruins, with the seven-light east window, can be viewed from the surrounding ground.
The altar tomb of the Purcell family dating to 1500 displays detailed stone carvings depicting the Crucifixion and the twelve Apostles. This burial slab demonstrates the remarkable skill of medieval stone carvers.
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