MONASTEREVIN, Kildare was founded by Dermot O’Dempsy, king of Offaly, and colonized with monks from Baltinglass. The abbey was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St. Benedict. The foundation date cannot be verified; Dermot’s charter is dated 1178 and the Cistercian tabula gives 1189. It has been suggested that the abbey was founded in 1178 for Benedictine monks who wished to become Cistercian, but that their affiliation was delayed until 1189.

The abbey was situated on the site of an early Irish monastery founded by St. Evin in the seventh century. The abbey’s Latin title, ‘Rosea Vallis’ meaning ‘the blooming valley’, was adapted from the old place name, Rosglas, meaning green corpse. After the ‘conspiracy of Mellifont’ the abbey was made subject to Fountains. In 1297 the abbot was accused of harbouring Irish felons, murderers and thieves, but the jury found he had not done so voluntarily and he was fined half a mark. In 1427 the abbey had been almost completely despoiled of all its goods and at the time of Dissolution the annual income of the abbey was valued at just £20. The abbey was suppressed some time between 1539 and 1540. Following the Dissolution the property passed to George, Lord Audley, who assigned it to Adam Loftus, Viscount Ely. The site was eventually acquired by the Moore family, earls of Drogheda. They were responsible for building the town of Monasterevin and much of Dublin.

It is an Ordinal that was written in 1501 by Donatus O’Kelly, a monk of the abbey. Apparently it was made at the behest of Abbot Thomas MacCostelloe, and was written in the monastery at Mellifont, presumably to make to use of the library there. It is now housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

RUINS OF DESMOND'S CASTLE, ADARE, CO. LIMERICK. -"Palace filled Adare" stands before us - the once splendid home of the brave and indomitable Geraldines. The castle, whose ruins are depicted above, was built by the second Earl of Kildare, in 1326, and afterward became a residence of the Desmond branch of the family. After the rebellion of the Great Earl against the authority of Elizabeth, it, in common with the test of his possessions, was confiscated by the English government. It was subsequently put in a state of defense and stood several sieges during the Parliamentary war, when it was taken by Lord Castlehaven and retaken by General Ireton. In 1657, Cromwell, for some unknown reason, ordered the stronghold to be dismantled. The late Earl of Dunraven partially restored it and it now forms a part of the estate of that spirited House, which derives from Adare one of its titles. The famiy name of the Dunravens is O'Quin, and a daughter of the ancient family recently married the young Knight of Glinn-the nearest collateral representative of the extinct male line of the Desmonds. The keep of the old castle has been partly renovated, and many of the walls and towers are well preserved. A deep fosse surrounds most of the fortress. Every feature of the architecture denotes its Norman origin.

In 1767 the sixth earl pulled down the old abbey and used the stones to build a parish church, which has now been replaced by the church of St. John’s.