Mellifont Abbey

PricingFree with English Heritage membership

EH members go freeInfo

Free entry for English Heritage members

This place is cared for by the Office of Public Works, which runs Ireland's national heritage sites as Heritage Ireland. English Heritage members are entitled to free entry to all OPW sites from the first year of membership. Show your current membership card at admissions.

Bring the card itself: joint and family memberships admit the named holders only.
Guided sites may run tours at set times; unguided sites are free to everyone.
Prices here are in euro.

More information

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

OPW lists a car park and coach parking; its visitor guide puts the car park on the right just past the entrance sign, beside the visitor centre, after the ruined gatehouse tower. No charge or free statement is published. Mellifont is 10 km north-west of Drogheda off the R168 Drogheda to Collon road; OPW names no public transport.

Driving pin: the OPW car park, 25 m from OPW's own pin at the visitor centre.

About

Beside the River Mattock near Drogheda, Mellifont was Ireland's first Cistercian monastery, founded in 1142 by St Malachy of Armagh with a few monks sent by St Bernard from Clairvaux. The French monks soon went home, but the abbey was completed and consecrated with great pomp, and an important church synod met here in 1152. Its most striking survival is the two-storey octagonal lavabo, where the monks washed, with its round arches. A ruined gatehouse tower stands at the entrance, and the vaulted chapter house is still visited by swallows. Later history passed through here too: the Treaty of Mellifont that ended the Nine Years War was signed in 1603, when the abbey was a private house, and William of Orange made it his headquarters at the Battle of the Boyne. The grounds are free to walk, with information panels; the visitor centre, with carved stones and a model of the monastery, opens in season, when the exhibition and tour cost €5.

ClosedPick a day for times and prices

Site Closed

Today, Saturday 24 October

Mellifont AbbeyClosed

Closed for the winter.

Opening times may change at short notice.

The visitor centre, exhibition and guided tours open seasonally: in 2026 daily 10:00 to 18:00 from 1 April to 1 October, last admission to the visitor centre 17:00; the 2027 dates are not yet published (2025 ran 8 May to 1 October). The abbey grounds are free; until 2025 OPW said the site was open all year round, but the current page gives no winter access, so check before a winter visit. A coffee cart serves tea, coffee and light snacks Thursday to Sunday 09:30 to 17:00 in season.

OPW describes the site as fully accessible; the guided tour starts at the top of steps overlooking the ruins and goes down by the steps or a path, and the chapter house is dark inside. Take care beside the river. Toilets beside the visitor centre, a gift shop and a picnic area. No climbing on the ruins.

Dogs: Pet dogs are allowed on a lead at the abbey; OPW does not say whether they may enter the visitor centre.

Photo: The ruined octagonal lavabo of Mellifont Abbey with its round arches, on the lawn of the former cloister. Oliver Gargan, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Mellifont_Abbey_8.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.