Survey Data
Reg No
15401114
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Country house
Historical Use
Priory
Date
1200 - 1800
Coordinates
234514, 261112
Date Recorded
05/11/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Fragmentary remains of medieval Augustinian Abbey, built c.1200 and later converted into a private house c.1783. Now in ruins. Surviving features consist of the heavily buttressed west gable of two/three storey rectangular range with a double with a chamfered pointed-arched door opening with red sandstone surround, lancet window opening over. Further two storey section to the south. Located in former demesne grounds to the northeast of Ballynacarrigy with an icehouse (15401113) to the north and another to the south.
Appraisal
This is an imposing and dramatic ruin with an interesting and varied history which contributes greatly to the local area. Tristernagh was originally an important Augustinian Abbey, founded c. 1200 by Geoffrey de Costentin. This abbey was abandoned following the Dissolution and was granted to the Piers Family. Sir William Pigot Piers apparently incorporated much of the fabric of this abbey into a new Gothic dwelling house in 1783, causing much local 'outrage'. A new house was built to the north of the abbey in the early nineteenth-century, and much of the abbey was used as fabric in this new building. What was left quickly fell into disrepair. Reputedly this abbey provided the inspiration for Castle Rackrent, a popular novel written by Maria Edgeworth (1767–1849) in 1800. It remains an important and interesting structure and is the centrepiece of a collection of structures associated with the former Tristernagh House Demesne.