Monday, July 30, 2018

Creevelea Abbey, County Leitrim.jpg 
A little more about the Creevelea Friary.  Yeah, I think old Hank # 8 might have had something to do with the fire.  I remember the skeletons of some Scottish churches that he had torched.  Anyway, back to Ireland. It was rebuilt by another O'Rourke, Brian, who, being a good Catholic, sheltered some survivors of the Spanish Armada.  Henry's daughter Elizabeth I, of course, had issues with Brian. She invited him to London.  He never came home.  His castle on Loch Gill outside of Leitrim was confiscated and given to the Parkes family.  I've read that several O'Rourkes are buried at the Friary, but as I inspected graves there in 2016, I failed to find them.  The last Franciscan Friars were driven out by Cromwell's soldiers in the 1650's.  A sequel work in progress will drill down into that action.  Stay tuned

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