Killaspugbrone is an early Christian church on the coast west of Sligo town and near the modern resort of Strandhill. One of the earliest churches in Sligo, it was founded by Bishop Brón mac Icni (d. 512) a contemporary of St. Patrick.
This church was a major pilgrimage site that contained a relic of St. Patrick known as the Fiacail Pádraig, now in the National Museum of Ireland. According to Patricks biographer Tirechán in his Collectanea, Patrick prophesied that the sea would force his heirs to move closer to the river Sligo.
The present building dates to the 12th century. The church was the victim of Viking attack, perhaps the same expedition that assaulted Inishmurray. It is the subject of an ongoing preservation initiative by the Killaspugbrone Preservation Society.
References:Dryburgh Abbey on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders was founded in 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland. The arrival of the canons along with their first abbot, Roger, took place in 1152.
It was burned by English troops in 1322, after which it was restored only to be again burned by Richard II in 1385, but it flourished in the fifteenth century. It was finally destroyed in 1544, briefly surviving until the Scottish Reformation, when it was given to the Earl of Mar by James VI of Scotland. It is now a designated scheduled monument and the surrounding landscape is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan bought the land in 1786. Sir Walter Scott and Douglas Haig are buried in its grounds.