Adare

Adare stands beside the River Maigue, where a castle and several religious houses gave the medieval settlement its character. The FitzGerald earls of Kildare held the castle for generations, and their patronage helped establish a Franciscan friary whose church was consecrated in 1466. An Augustinian house and a Trinitarian foundation also stood near the river, giving the small settlement an unusually rich array of religious buildings.

The Kildare rebellion brought the forfeiture of the castle in the 1530s, while the Reformation altered the fate of Adare's friaries. The Franciscan house was suppressed in 1539, but its friars returned by 1573. They were expelled again during the Desmond rebellion in 1581 and re-established their community for a time in 1633, demonstrating the persistence of religious life amid repeated upheaval.