Kylemore Abbey – From Belgian Battlefields to Connemara

​Kylemore Abbey, set against the slopes of Connemara, looks like something out of a fairy tale — a white Gothic castle reflected in the still waters of the lake. Yet its story goes beyond appearances, shaped by both Irish history and wider European influences.

The castle was built in the 1860s by Mitchell Henry, a wealthy doctor and industrialist from Manchester, as a grand home for his wife, Margaret. After her early death on a trip to Egypt, he built the small Gothic church nearby as a memorial.
Henry remained at Kylemore for decades, but his fortune declined, and eventually the family had to give up the estate. Over time, the property passed out of their hands, opening the way for a very different chapter in its history.

Half a century later, the estate took on a new role. The Irish Benedictine nuns of Ypres had originally left Ireland in the 17th century when the Penal Laws made it impossible for Catholic women to live a religious life at home. In exile, they founded a convent in the Flemish city of Ypres in 1665, where they preserved Irish traditions and faith for more than 250 years. They became known as the "Irish nuns of Ypres," a community that carried Ireland with them wherever they went abroad.

When their abbey in Belgium was destroyed during World War I, they were forced to leave. In 1920, they returned to Ireland and settled at Kylemore, converting the castle into a monastery and school.

Today, Kylemore Abbey remains a place of prayer and community life, as well as one of the most visited sites in western Ireland. Its layered history—from Victorian romance to wartime exile and return—makes it far more than just a beautiful building in a striking landscape.