Cong Abbey/Mainistir Chonga

Mainistir Chonga. Cong-from Conga [the Narrow Neck of Land (between two lakes)]. , The monastery of Cong, founded in the early 7th century, was destroyed by fire in the early 12th century. Turlough O'Conor, the High-King of Ireland, refounded the abbey around 1135, and his son Rory constructed new buildings. The community adopted the Augustinian rule several years later. Soon after, in 1203, the Norman knight William de Burgo attacked the town, and again the monastery had to be rebuilt. Very little remains of the abbey. The present church, and possibly also the fragmentary cloister, where the monks once worked and prayed, belong to the rebuilding of the early 13th century. The north doorway of the church, and the elaborate doorways that open onto the cloister from the east range of the monastery, might pre-date the destruction by William de Burgo. The doorway with two fine windows on either side of it belongs to the chapter house, where the monastery's business was conducted and a chapter of the rule read every day. This was the also where the community gathered to confess their sins publicly. The sculpture in the abbey, which suggests links with western France, is some of the finest in Ireland.,