Kylemore Abbey, Co. Galway : Travel Reminiscences

10 day self-drive tour of Ireland : October 2009

Looking back to my posts on Ireland,  I missed Kylemore Abbey when I wrote posts on the Victorian walled garden on the grounds of the Abbey as well as the small Gothic church

Kylemore Abbey, on the banks of the Kylemore Lough, is sheltered by the slopes of the Twelve Bens.   Stunning setting !!!

It was built as a present for his wife by Mitchell Henry (1826-1911) who was a Manchester tycoon and later Galway MP.  The Henrys also purchased a huge area of moorland, drained the boggy hillside and planted thousands of trees as a windbreak for their new orchards and exotic walled gardens.  After the sudden death of his wife and daughter, Henry left Kylemore and the castle was sold

It became an abbey when Benedictine nuns, fleeing from Ypres in Belgium during World War I, sought refuge here.  They purchased the castle and lands in 1920 and established an international boarding school and a day school for local girls

The year after we were there, in 2010, the girls boarding school was closed and the nuns have been developing new education and retreat activities

St Benedict (480-547)

Gothic Church .. (see link above)

Victorian Walled Garden .. (see link above)

Hubby and I had tea (and I think scones – it was so long ago) !!  in the tearoom where all the yummy goodies were made by the nuns, as well as all the pottery – all with fuschias hand-painted on them

  It’s such a gorgeous setting.  I love it.  Another place well-worth a visit …

We toured this beautiful part of Ireland … Connemara …  on the full day we had in Galway.  Leaving the city of Galway the following day we made our way through County Mayo towards our one-night stop in Sligo before heading back to Dublin … still to come 😉

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