Abbeyshrule, Mainistir Shruthla, Co. Longford

Mainistir Shruthla · Co. Longford

A Cistercian abbey, a flying club, and the Royal Canal walk out of the mist.

Abbeyshrule is the kind of place you find by accident. The name comes from an Irish phrase meaning 'the monastery of the stream' - Mainistir Shruthla - and that is exactly what you get: a scatter of houses along the River Inny, where a Cistercian abbey has stood since 1150. The ruins are still there, open and free, the church walls surviving eight centuries of English armies, Irish weather, and the ordinary forgetting that claims most things.

The village sits on the Royal Canal, which runs from Dublin west toward the Shannon. The Whitworth Aqueduct - built in 1817 to carry the canal over the river - stands a kilometre north. Walk the canal towpath and you will find almost nothing, which is the point. The aerodrome is here too: Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, where small planes take off and land, and a flying club keeps the runway warm.

This is a village for people who like the quiet of a thing more than the story of a thing. The abbey does not have a café. There are no gift shops. The graveyard holds actual graves. Come if you want to walk, or fly, or sit by the water and think.

Population

~400

Founded

1150

Coords

53.4167° N, 7.5167° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The abbey

Twelve hundred years of stone.

The ruins are open, free, and honest - 13th-century church walls, a cloister outline, a tower house. The graveyard holds a high cross shaft and the accumulated dead of centuries. No turnstile, no tea room, no 'heritage experience'.

Stories & lore → 02 The canal

Walk the towpath where nearly nothing happens.

The Royal Canal runs through, carrying its quiet from Dublin west. The Whitworth Aqueduct - 165 feet of stone - carries the canal over the River Inny a kilometre north. Walk it before or after breakfast.

Walks & outings → 03 The flying club

Small planes from a small field.

Abbeyshrule Aerodrome hosts Skyline Flying Club and a microlight school. Not something you see in every village. If the wind is right you will hear them.

Getting there →

02 / 06

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Rustic Inn

Gastro pub on the canal

Pub, restaurant & guesthouse

Five en-suite bedrooms, views of the River Inny and the Royal Canal, restaurant in the Cloisters. Best Gastro Pub at the Irish Restaurant Awards. Open most days but call ahead - 044 935 74 24.

03 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

1150 to the present

The abbey

Abbeyshrule was founded in 1150 by Cistercian monks from Mellifont Abbey, under the O'Farrells of Annaly. By 1228 it had shifted affiliation to Bective Abbey and was one of the largest monasteries in Leinster - cells, chapel, sacristy, kitchens, refectory, the works. Then in 1476 an English army burned it. It was restored, suppressed by Henry VIII in 1541, and has sat as ruins ever since. What survives: 13th-century church walls, the cloister outline, a later tower house, and a graveyard where the names on the stones go back to the stone itself. You can walk the site for free.

The aqueduct

The Whitworth

The Whitworth Aqueduct carries the Royal Canal over the River Inny - 165 feet of it, built between 1814 and 1817. Named (probably) after Lord Charles Whitworth, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time. John Killaly designed it, the same engineer who built the whole 24.5-mile canal extension from Coolnahay to Cloondara. A plaque on the inner south parapet lists the contractors: Henry, Mullins and McMahon. A small thing, a stone thing, carrying water the same way it did two hundred years ago.

Abbeyshrule Aerodrome

The flying club

Skyline Flying Club operates from Abbeyshrule Aerodrome, a 2,000-foot tarmac runway beside the River Inny. The club teaches flying, rents aircraft, insures members. There is also a microlight school. This is not common in a village this small. On a clear day with the wind right, you will hear the engines.

04 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Royal Canal towpath from Abbeyshrule to the Whitworth Aqueduct North along the canal towpath, the aqueduct comes into view carrying the canal 165 feet over the River Inny. Flat, quiet, no traffic. The water is dark green. Return the same way.

2 km returndistance

30 minutestime

Abbeyshrule Abbey ruins walk The abbey is open, free, accessible. Walk the cloister outline, read the gravestones, look at 13th-century walls and imagine what eight centuries have taken away. A high cross shaft stands in the graveyard. No guide book. No signs. Just stone.

1 km loopdistance

45 minutestime

05 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The canal towpath green, the abbey ruins still standing, nobody there. Exact.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

Warm, yes. But warmer also means more people on the Royal Canal Greenway. Early morning is quieter.

◐ Mind yourself

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The canal is golden, the graveyard is honest, the sound of planes is seasonal. This is the time.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The abbey is emptier still. The canal will be cold. The Rustic Inn will be warm. That is the contract.

◉ Go

Getting there.

By car

Mullingar is the nearest town, 22km east. From Dublin, take the N6 toward Athlone, branch for Longford. Allow 2 hours from Dublin, 30 minutes from Mullingar.

By bus

Bus Éireann routes run through Longford. Check schedules - Abbeyshrule is small enough that direct service is spotty.

By train

Longford has a station, 20km south. Then taxi or local transport.

By air

Abbeyshrule Aerodrome itself is open for private flying. Skyline Flying Club can arrange lessons and flights.