For one hundred years, Kylemore Abbey has been home to the Irish Benedictine nuns, whose monastery in Flanders was destroyed during the First World War. Known in continental Europe as the Irish Dames of Ypres, the community was founded in 1665 and provided education to the daughters of elite Irish Catholics during the penal era. On arriving in Connemara in 1920, the Benedictines established a monastery and opened a boarding school. This book provides the first fully illustrated account of the Irish Benedictines and their monastery at Kylemore. It also charts the fascinating history of the castle, built by Mitchell Henry and later home to the Duke and Duchess of Manchester. The stunningly beautiful castle became a national landmark in the nineteenth century. The twentieth century saw the Benedictines develop the gardens, restore the Gothic Chapel and open the castle to the public. Meticulously researched with material from the Kylemore archives, this book provides a compelling account of a unique part of Irish history, while the images capture the life of the nuns, and the savage beauty of Kylemore and its surroundings under the Diamond Mountain.

Catherine KilBride was Director-Education of The Marketing Institute, before moving into third-level education, lecturing in Education Leadership and supervising pre-service teachers at University College Dublin. She is now a full-time writer and translator. This is her fourth book. Deidre Raftery is Professor of the History of Education at UCD, and an elected Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has thirteen book publications including (jointly) Nano Nagle: The Life and the Legacy (2018); Transnationalism, Gender and the History of Education (2017), and was recently awarded the CHWR Distinguished Historian Award, at Notre Dame. Her research specialism is the history of women religious (nuns).