Ireland Guide
Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford
Jerpoint Abbey
Address: On the N9, 20km south of Kilkenny city
Website: www.heritageireland.ie
Opening time: Daily: March– May & mid-Sept to Oct 10am–5pm; June to mid-Sept 9.30am–6pm; Nov 10am–4pm; last tour 1hr before closing time
Price: €2.90; Heritage Card
The major tourist sight in the south of the county is Jerpoint Abbey. Originally founded as a Benedictine house in 1158, the abbey was colonized by Cistercians some twenty years later. The oldest remain is the twelfth-century Romanesque church, but the rest, set around a beautifully colonnaded fifteenth-century cloister, follows the characteristic Cistercian design. The abbey features a number of tomb sculptures and some intriguing carvings on the cloister arcade, including the "little man of Jerpoint" whose stomach-crossed hands and open-mouthed expression suggest either mirth or dyspepsia.