Kylemore Abbey is a Benedictine monastery founded in 1920 on the grounds of Kylemore Castle, in Connemara, Co. Galway. The abbey was founded for Benedictine Nuns who fled Belgium in World War 1. Kylemore Castle was built in 1868 as a private home for the family of Mitchell Henry, a wealthy doctor from London whose family were involved in textile manufacturing in Manchester, England. He moved to Ireland when he and his wife Margaret purchased the land around the Abbey, after having travelled there on their honeymoon in the mid 1840s. He became a politician, becoming MP for County Galway from 1871 to 1885. The Castle façade is made of granite brought from Dalkey, Co. Dublin by sea to Letterfrack, and limestone brought from Ballinasloe. Other buildings include a Gothic church and family mausoleum. The nuns continued to offer education to Catholic girls until 2010, when it was forced to close. Since then the nuns have been developing new education and retreat activities. The Benedictine community has lovingly restored the Abbey’s large walled Victorian Gardens and church. (source: Wikipedia)