Bangor Abbey was established by Saint Comgall in 558 in Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland and was famous for its learning and austere rule. It is not to be confused with the even older abbey in Wales on the site of Bangor Cathedral. Bangor Abbey was a centre of learning which trained missionaries in the Middle Ages. It used to be called the "Light of the World". It was from here that St. Columbanus set out on his famous missionary journey to Europe.
Little remained of the original abbey after repeated attacks by the Danes, who destroyed it in 824. It was restored by Saint Malachy in the 12th century, given to the Franciscans in 1469, and to the Augustinians a century later. It was finally dissolved under James I.
The present Tower of the Abbey dates back to the 14th century.
Sir James Hamilton repaired the church in 1617 and was buried in it when he died in 1644.
A mural in the church is of Christ ascending to heaven with Saints Comgall, Gall and Columbanus at his feet.
Famous quotes containing the words bangor and/or abbey:
“On a late-winter evening in 1983, while driving through fog along the Maine coast, recollections of old campfires began to drift into the March mist, and I thought of the Abnaki Indians of the Algonquin tribe who dwelt near Bangor a thousand years ago.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“The Abbey always reminds me of that old toast, “Above lofty timbers, the walls around are bare, echoing to our laughter, as though the dead were there.””
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)