The Augustinian Priory, Lorrha

A much more welcome and peaceful group of newcomers arrived in Lorrha in the 12th century, these were the priors who were devoted to Saint Augustine. On the top of the ornate doorway on the south wall is the carved head of a woman wearing a horned headdress, one suggestion is that this lady was the wife of the Norman overlord who might have commissioned its building as was normal practice in those days. The priory lasted in Lorrha for over 400 years and one prior in particular had a gruesome fate in the late 16th century!