durrow abbey co. offaly conservation plan - Offaly County Council

This conservation plan was commissioned by the Office of Public Works for Durrow
Abbey and the surrounding thir ty-one hectares of land acquired by the state in 2003.
Durrow Abbey, Co Offaly is located eight kilometers to the nor th of Tullamore on the
N52 to Kilbeggan.
The site was occupied in the early medieval period by a monastery, founded by St
Columcille in the sixth century. An Augustinian priory and Anglo-Norman castle were
subsequently built on the site in the twelfth century. After the dissolution of the monasteries
in the sixteenth century the lands of the monastery went into private ownership.
Much of what remains on site today in terms of landscape treatments and built structures
dates from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries including the Gothic Revival
Durrow Abbey House. The survival of evidence from the many layers of occupation of
the site from the sixth century to the present day contributes to its exceptional historical
and cultural significance.
The study boundary is the land acquired by the Irish state in December 2003, however,
the wider historical demesne has been analysed to provide a more complete context for
the archaeology and landscape design. The conservation plan was under taken between
November 2004 and May 2005 and provides a series of policies to inform the future
conservation and management of the site.
The conservation plan team was led by Howley Harrington Architects with input from
Cunnane Stratton Reynolds, landscape and planning consultants, the Cultural Resource
Development Services Ltd, archaeologists and Dr Christopher Moriar ty, natural historian.