In 1150 the O’Farrell lords of Annaly brought Cistercian monks up from Mellifont to the banks of the River Inny, and the abbey they founded – one of the first and largest in Leinster – still dominates the riverside at Abbeyshrule. The village that grew around it takes its name from the Irish Mainistir Shruthla, ‘monastery of the stream’, and sits in the south-east corner of County Longford, where the Royal Canal crosses the river. It keeps itself well: Ireland’s Tidiest Village in 2012, followed by a gold medal at the European Entente Florale.
The abbey
The ruins are free, unfenced and open dawn to dusk all year – no ticket office, no queue. The east and north walls of the church survive with their original medieval coursing, a double bellcote and the crossing arch; faint foundations trace the cloister of what was once a complex of church, refectory, kitchens and cells, sited for water access to Lough Ree, Clonmacnoise and Kilbixy. A four-storey tower house, added after the dissolution and now capped with a sedum roof, stands over a graveyard of old headstones and the shaft of a high cross.
The best time to come is a summer evening. In 2017 a community project fitted solar-powered LED lighting, and from late June to early August the ruins are lit each night – worth timing a walk for. An hour covers the site. The ground is mostly level but the old foundations are uneven underfoot, and the tower house interior is no use to wheelchair users.
The canal and the river
The Royal Canal Greenway runs traffic-free through the village in both directions, and Abbeyshrule makes a natural stop on the long-distance Dublin–Galway cycle route. About a kilometre west, the Whitworth aqueduct carries the canal over the River Inny, with views across the water and bogland. The Inny holds trout and pike; the angling spots are near Scally’s Bridge, a short walk from the abbey, where there are picnic tables and free parking for a lunch by the water.
Food and the asado
Fiona Egan’s Cloughan Farm Cookery School runs hands-on classes – Soyer famine soup and maize bread, scone baking – with a tour of the working farm and its herd of Dexter cattle. The Rustic Inn covers food, drink, toilets and most of the village’s events, including the one genuinely unexpected fixture: an Argentine asado every July, with grilled meats, dulce de leche desserts and live tango, marking Longford’s long emigration link with Argentina.
Two footnotes for the curious. Oliver Goldsmith is believed to have been born in 1728 at Pallas, just outside the village, where his father was a curate – a replica of his Trinity College Dublin statue stands at the spot. And people were here long before the monks: the Bronze Age Clonbrin shield was found nearby in 1906.
Getting there
Abbeyshrule is about 30 km from Mullingar, reached off the N4. Don’t rely on public transport – buses are limited, with the nearest regular service from Mullingar, and the closest railway station is Athlone. Arriving by bike along the Greenway is the most pleasant option. There is free parking near Scally’s Bridge and along the perimeter of Abbeyshrule Aerodrome – the village has its own small airfield, a registered customs airport used by light aircraft. Dogs are welcome on leads. Enquiries: +353 433 342 577.
If you want more monastic stone, Abbeylara is another Cistercian foundation within the county, with the early monastic site at Clonbroney a short drive north and the riverside village of Cloondara on the Shannon beyond. But time this one for July if you can: the abbey lit after dark, and the asado at the Rustic Inn if your dates line up.