The Black Abbey, Kildare

The Black Abbey stands as the ruins of a preceptory established by the Knights Hospitaller (the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem) at Tully, near Kildare town. The order was granted land in Ireland in 1174 by Strongbow, Lord of Leinster, and subsequently received lands at Tully for a subordinate preceptory, confirmed by Pope Innocent III in 1212. The preceptory derived its name from the black ha...