Muckross Abbey

Franciscan abbey situated on a peninsula separating the upper and lower Lakes of Killarney, County Kerry, Republic of Ireland. It was founded about 1440 by Donal MacCarthy, the chieftain of Desmond. Despite the abbey being formally repressed in 1542, the friars remained until about 1589. They regained possession later and restored the abbey in 1626, but the Cromwellian forces burned it in 1652, after which time the site was abandoned. The most attractive features include the east window and the cloisters that surround a gigantic and ancient yew tree.