Movilla Abbey

Movilla Abbey stands in Newtownards, County Down, on a plain once marked by a sacred tree where pagans once worshipped. Founded in 540 by St Finnian, it became one of Ulster’s most important monasteries and survived for a thousand years. The abbey’s name comes from the Irish for ‘plain of the ancient tree’. Finnian’s reputation grew so great that the Book of Armagh called him ‘a man of venerable life who reposes in many miracles’. By the seventh century it was a centre of Celtic Christianity, worship, study, mission and trade. Movilla’s fame rests on its early learning and craftsmanship. Finnian brought back a complete Latin Vulgate Bible from Rome, the only one in Ireland at the time. St Columba studied here, performed his first miracles and secretly copied the Bible, leading to the world’s first recorded copyright dispute. Excavations in 1980–81 found bronze and glass objects showing skilled craftsmanship. The abbey also produced hymns and hosted bishops who corresponded with Pope Honorius I. Today only ruins remain of the Augustinian church built in the 15th century. Two gables stand about 150 feet apart, with a Romanesque window and carved heads in the east wall. The site is reached through Movilla Cemetery, where 13th-century grave slabs show swords for men and sickles for women. Notable memorials include the Corry Family tomb and the Parr Mausoleum in Gothic Revival style. The cemetery holds Commonwealth war graves from both world wars and the graves of Colonel Paddy Mayne and singer Ottilie Patterson.