Glenstal Abbey is home to a community of Benedictine monks in County Limerick, Ireland, and is a place of prayer, work, education and hospitality. The monastery sits alongside a popular guesthouse and a boarding school for boys, housed within a 19th century Normanesque castle amidst five hundred magnificent acres of farmland, forest, lakes and streams. Glenstal, in the Benedictine tradition of hospitality, has an open gate to all who wish to visit.
The monastery, located at the heart of the former Barrington estate, exists in a beautiful place. Many visitors simply walk the avenues at their leisure. The adjacent lands have a wide variety of specimen trees and flowers and is a wildlife sanctuary. Part of the remains of Ireland’s primitive oak forest lies along the edge of the Front Avenue.
When visiting, you are asked to be mindful that the space available to you is the home of a monastic community, boarding school and a working farm. Many areas are thus designated as ‘private.’ The school buildings, playing fields and cloister areas are not open to the public, although viewing can be arranged for visiting groups by appointment. Other areas are without access because of health and safety.
Church: You are especially welcome to join the Community at times of prayer and for Mass though you may visit the Church at any time.
Glenstal Abbey, Murroe, County Limerick
