Today, all that remains of this 13th-century Franciscan friary is the foundation and some gravestones. The Layd Old Church has seen its fair share of history, including the Taxation of Pope Nicholas (1291-1292), the dissolution of monasteries under the rule of Henry VII (1536-1540), and conversion into a Church of Ireland under three generations of the McArthur family (1696-1796), who often preached in the Irish Language and finally is abandonment in 1800 and is now a protected site of historical importance. These church ruins contain many interesting graves of local…
