1. 1.8 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



preservation and multiplication of ancient literature, as an outcome 

 of their silent austerity, they are chiefly known to us from the ex- 

 cellence and simplicity of their architectural arrangements, and 

 also their vast farming and gardening operations. In Ireland, 

 previous to their advent, agricultural operations had been con- 

 sidered as the mark of degradation and suitable only for slaves, 

 but the Cistercians quickly placed such pursuits on the most respect- 

 able footing. It is an error to suppose that the Cistercian order 

 was introduced into Ireland by the Normans, or to imagine that 

 because we find such a frequent admixture of " Early Pointed " 

 among its " Romanesque " that, therefore, the Anglo-Norman archi- 

 tects and builders were the authors. The discernment of the 

 Anglo-Romanesque or " Norman " detail, from the characteristic 

 Hiberno-Romanesque, requires training and judgment, the want 

 of which has caused discrepancies to creep into the works of some 

 writers, but we have the unimpeachable authority of St. Bernard 

 that a generation before Strongbow or Henry II. set foot on Irish 

 soil, Malachy, Bishop of Down, had introduced the Cistercians, and 

 they had become naturalised, and, in fact, nationalised in Ireland, 

 and even in the County Down, in Newry, under the native bishop 

 and the native king of Ireland, long before John De Courcy was 

 bitten by his abbey-building mania. The native clergy or Culdee 

 in the North of Ireland were sternly conservative, and in the 

 County Antrim the Cistercians never got foothold, except to rear 

 some small chapel or cell, as that at Jordanstown (appropriate to 

 Grey Abbey). 



We give the list of their abbeys in the County Down in the order 

 of their foundation, viz. : — 



Newry, or de Viridi ligno, founded in 1144 by St. Malachy, and 

 richly endowed by Maurice M'Loughlan, king of all Ireland, in 

 the year 1157. 



Inch, founded in 1180, completed in 1188 by Sir John de 

 Courcy. 



Grey Abbey, founded in 1193 by Africa, wife of Sir John de 

 Courcy. 



