Quin Abbey

Situated on a bend of the River Rine at the NE edge of Quin village with some defense afforded by the river to the W and N. The ground falls away sharply towards the river to W and N. This Anglo-Norman castle was built in 1280 by Sir Thomas de Clare (c. 1245-87) in an attempt to subdue the Macnamaras. It was captured and burned by Cumheadha MacNamara in 1285 and in the 14th century much of it was demolished and used to build the Franciscan Friary (CL042-027002-) on the same footprint. Many of the castle walls were reused and incorporated into the Friary. (See Ua Cróinín 1997

N curtain wall

The curtain walls survive best where they attach to the NE corner tower. The lower portion of the E end of the N curtain wall (Wth 2.9m; ext. H 1.52m) is still visible where it is attached to the tower. It is very low internally (H 0.25m) as the interior is raised to compensate for the sharp slope to the river towards the N. According to Ua Cróinín (1997) recent investigations have shown that much of the external kitchen wall of the Friary may also be contemporary with the castle.

E curtain wall

The foundation of most of the E curtain wall survives (int. H 0.7m; ext. H 0.83m; Wth 2.87m) (original L between the corner towers 25.4m). It has a small low wall built on top (H 0.43m; Wth 0.38m) almost at the external edge and has a slight batter. The S end of the E curtain wall is now the E end of the Abbey church. The E window of the church has very deep splays due to the width of the wall. Close to the N end of E curtain wall there is a set of steps (Wth 1.07m) spiralling towards the top.

S curtain wall

This wall (Wth 2.75m) is substantially incorporated into the S wall of the Friary church (CL042-027002-) which was built along the same line. The main entrance to the castle was in the middle of the S wall and the inner arch of this (Wth 3.25m) is still present under the crossing tower of the Friary. The windows of the S wall of the church required deep splays both internally and externally due to the castle wall width giving them a strange external appearance.

NE bastion

The NE bastion (H 2.3m; diam. across the top 11.85m; int. diam. 4.56m; wall Wth 3.62m) is the best preserved and has a slight batter. It has a short entrance passage narrowing from 0.77m to 0.58m and has two deep rectangular internal recesses (Wth 2.68m) with deep widely splayed embrasures over (D 0.85-1.29m). A third recess (Wth 1.36m) has a flue narrowing towards the top.

SE bastion

The SE bastion is less well preserved (diam. at top 9.25m; ext. remaining H 3.32m; wall Wth 2.8m) as it joins what later became the SE corner of the Abbey church. It has two internal rectangular recesses (Wth 2.21-2.25m; D 1.7m).

SW bastion

The SW bastion, close to the entrance doorway to the Abbey is the least well preserved (diam 9.18m; ext. remaining H 2.14m; wall Wth c. 2m). The interior of this bastion has been built up and used for burial.

Quin Castle and Friary are National Monuments in State Care, no. 15. (Westropp 1888, 334-5; Westropp 1900, 427-38; Ua Briain 1908; Ua Cróinín and Breen 1997; Hull 2017)