Burrishoole Friary

Description

Burrishoole Friary was a Dominican friary near Newport in County Mayo, Ireland. It was founded in 1470 by Richard de Burgo of Turlough, Lord MacWilliam Oughter. It was built without the permission of Pope Paul II (term 1464-1471). In 1486, Pope Innocent VIII (term 1484-1492) instructed Uilliam Seóighe, the Archbishop of Tuam (term 1485-1501) to forgive the friars. Richard de Burgo resigned his lordship in 1469 and entered the friary which he had founded. He remained a friar until his death in 1473.

Almost all the friaries and abbeys across Ireland were suppressed in the wake of the Reformation in the 16th century. Very few were rebuilt after that time and now only the ruins survive, pleasing, if poignant, late Gothic relics of what must have been among the most striking buildings in the countryside of pre-Tudor Ireland.