In photos: The ornate medieval stonework at Boyle Abbey, Roscommon

Boyle Abbey Roscommon
Inside the late 12th/early 13th century church

Founded in 1161 AD, by the Cistercian order of monks, Boyle Abbey, Co. Roscommon contains a fine collection of medieval decorated stonework. These pieces are found inside the ruins of the late 12th/early 13th century church and take the form of ornate capitals. Exploiting a variety of decorative motifs, the stone capitals contain images of both humans and animals as well as foliate and floral designs. They are expertly executed  and are a testament to the medieval masons who carried out this work 800 years ago. This blog post illustrates some of the finer capitals, which are shown in the photos below.

Medieval capital boyle abbey 2   Medieval capital boyle Abbey 1   DSC_0115   Medieval roscommon     Medieval capitol   Medieval capital boyle abbey 10   Medieval head   Medieval capital boyle abbey 8   Medieval capital boyle abbey 11   Medieval capital boyle abbey 3   Medieval capital boyle abbey 7   Medieval capital boyle abbey 4   Medieval capital boyle abbey 5   Medieval capital boyle abbey 6   DSC_0112   Boyle medieval abbey

Boyle Abbey
13th century windows in the Church Presbytery
Boyle Abbey model
Model of how the Abbey would have looked in the 13th century

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