Mount Mellaray Abbey

Mount Melleray Abbey is a community of Cistercian (Trappist)monks. The monastery is situated on the slopes of the Knockmealdown mountains in County Waterford, Ireland.

The monastery was founded on 30 May 1832 at Scrahan, Cappoquin, by a colony of Irish and English monks, expelled from the abbey of Melleray after the French Revolution of 1830, and who had come to Ireland under the leadership of Fr. Vincent de Paul Ryan. It was called Mount Melleray in memory of the motherhouse.

The exhibition centre outlines the history of Mount Melleray in word and picture, through a series of panels. These begin with the arrival of the Cistercians in Ireland through to the foundation of daughter houses in Co. Antrim and in New Zealand.Also on display in the exhibition centre are a number of Ogham stones brought to Mount Melleray in 1910 by Canon P Power, onetime professor of archaeology in University College Cork. Ogham stones were memorials erected to record the passing of some noted person in ancient Ireland.

The Cloisters Tea Rooms are open Tuesday to Sunday from 12 o'clock until 4.30, serving delicious homemade soups, sandwiches and a selection of cakes.