Quin, Cuinche, Co. Clare

A village where a Franciscan friary stands half-intact in a field - one of the most complete medieval friaries left in Ireland - with a working pub across the bridge.

Quin Abbey is not ruined in the way most Irish ruins are ruined - roofless, tumbled, a few walls. Much of the friary still stands. The cloister is intact, the church holds its shape, the domestic ranges tell you how the friars actually lived, and a narrow spiral stair takes you up the bell tower for a view over the Rine valley. It was never fully destroyed - just suppressed, reoccupied, suppressed again, and finally left. The result is unusually complete.

The site carries a long history before the Franciscans. An earlier church here burned in 1278. Around 1280 the Anglo-Norman lord Thomas de Clare built a castle on the spot, a square keep with massive round corner towers. The de Clare attempt to hold Thomond did not last - Richard de Clare was killed at the Battle of Dysert O'Dea in 1318 and the O'Briens reclaimed the county. The MacNamaras, the local ruling family, later took the ruined castle and granted it to the Franciscans, who between 1402 and 1433 built their friary into the old castle walls. That is why two of the corner towers still stand in the friary plan.

The village around it is small. A humpback bridge over the River Rine, a main street, a few shops, and the Abbey Tavern looking across at the friary. Nine kilometres east of Ennis on the River Rine, just off the road network rather than on it. Most people come for the abbey and leave - but Knappogue Castle is three kilometres away, Craggaunowen is further east, and the whole quiet corner of southeast Clare opens out from here.