Bective Abbey…

Quick-fire Facts About Bective Abbey…

• Bective Abbey is roughly 95 miles from Belfast, which is approximately a 2 hour drive, mostly via the motorway.

• The site is free to access, however the car park is particularly small.

• I would say the site is dog friendly, as long as your dog is leashed! Only other drawback is the lack of bins for dog mess.

• Bective Abbey was the second Cistercian Abbey in Ireland, founded in 1147 by the King of Meath at that time, Murchad O’Maeil-Scheaclainn, as a daughter house of Mellifont Abbey in County Louth.

• Bective Abbey was originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

• In 1380, King Richard II ordered that no Irishman or enemy of the King was to be admitted as a monk to Bective Abbey.

• Most of the current ruins date back to the 15th century.

• In the cloisters, there is a carving believed to be of Saint Bernard, the founder of the Cistercian Order.

• The Abbey and its lands were confiscated during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in the 1530’s.

• Today it is classed as a National Monument of Ireland.

• Bective Abbey has also been the film location for Captain Lightfoot (1955), Braveheart (1995), and The Last Duel (2021).