Irish Monastery of the High Middle Ages- Athassel

This monastery was built in 1205 by the invading Anglo-Normans (Norman conquerors) who crossed the channel from Normandy in France to England in 1006. They reached Ireland in 1169. You can still see part of the moat that surrounded the monastery! The monks who were here were part of the Augustinian order and their monastery was founded by William de Burgh and dedicated to St. Edmond. ( I must credit this information to one of my professors, Damian Bracken, as I took this information from some information he handed out to us)

A gargoyle!! They used to be all over the outside of the Monastery, meant to keep the bad out. Apparently in that time, gargoyles were either a symbol of bad within the building or to keep the bad out. We'll assume with a monastery it was to keep the bad out...