Bective Abbey

Bective was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Mellifont, the second Cistercian abbey in Ireland, and it was important enough that its abbot sat in the Irish parliament. After the dissolution in 1536 it was converted into a fortified house, which is why the ruin reads oddly - monastic cloister arcades and a tower and mullioned windows from a later domestic conversion, all in the same walls. The cloister is the best surviving part, with an arcade on two sides. The body of Hugh de Lacy, the Norman lord of Meath killed in 1186, was reportedly buried here while his head went to Saint Thomas's Abbey in Dublin, prompting a long dispute between the two houses. Braveheart filmed here in 1994. The site is open ground beside the road, with no gate, no staff and no ticket, and it is usually deserted.

What you actually see

• The cloister - arcades surviving on two sides, walkable.
• The mixed fabric - monastic work and the later fortified house in one ruin.
• The tower - added in the post-dissolution conversion.
• The setting - the Boyne alongside, with no fence or gate.

When to go

April to October. The ruins are open at any hour with no gate, though the ground is uneven and unlit. Grass and stone are slippery after rain.

Honest expectations

Unstaffed, unlit and only lightly stabilised - loose stone, uneven ground and open drops in places. No facilities, no interpretation beyond a panel, and roadside parking only.

Nearby

Trim Castle is south; the Hill of Tara and Navan are north-east.