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| MURRISK ABBEY, CO. MAYO. -Muirisc, anglicized to Murrisk, means sea-shore marsh and lies between the base of the lofty Croagh Patrick and the sea. It is a narrow plain, and formerly, was subject to be flooded at high-tide, which obtained for the district the name borne by the old monastery, founded by the O'Malleys, for the order of Austin Friars, many centuries ago. It contains a tomb of the ancient family that founded it, an altar cross of elaborately carved granite, which represents the Crucifixion, and other sacred relics of antiquity. Formerly, the ruins were famous, in a ghastly sense, for the large number of human bones piled up in the crypt, many of them gigantic in size, showing that the old time inhabitants belonged to a stalwart race of mankind. A traveller has written that the effect of this display of mortal relics by moonlight was most startling. It looked as if a whole legion of skeletons were grinning at the intruder. What remains of the monastery itself is not as striking as most Irish monastical ruins. The situation is, however, antique and Croagh Patrick by moonlight, flinging its mighty shadow on superb Clew Bay, is nowhere seen to better advantage than from Murrisk Abbey. |
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