Old Mellifont Abbey

2.5mi/4km northwest of Drogheda on the R168 (signposted to Collon) at Tullyallen, a side road on the left leads to Mellifont. Here, on the River Mattoch, are the ruins of Mellifont Abbey (National Monument), once an important Cistercian house founded in 1142 and built with the help of French monks. By 1271 it had become the mother house of 24 other monasteries.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries (1539) it was converted into a fortified manor house. Only a few remains of the original building have been preserved - a castle-like gatehouse with a massive tower, the fine crypt of the church, part of the two-story lavabo in the cloister (arches reconstructed) and the finely vaulted chapter-house (14th C.) in which a variety of architectural fragments are now kept. Part of the floor of the chapter-house has been laid with attractively patterned glazed tiles from the church. Stumps of walls and marks on the ground indicate that the abbey was laid out on the Clairvaux model.