Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there is an old abbey here in Kinsale. The original abbey was built in the 1300s and it was donated to the Carmelite friars who have been associated with the church ever since. The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel stands above the town of Kinsale like a watchful guardian. The way to the chruch is through a beautiful tree lined street which ends at the church itself. The outside of the church itself is surprisingly bare considering how old it was as designs tends to more elaborate back then. Considering its age, I think it has already gone through a few renovations which would account of it looking quite new.
Grotto Outside the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
The church was built on more spacious grounds compared to the nearby Saint John the Baptist Church. The Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel has large open space in front of the church which I thought was standard for churches. The Just opposite the church is a grotto dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is pretty standard for churches to have an area dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. I don’t know if the land opposite the church is also owned by the Carmelites but I thought it was strange not to put the grotto closer to the church itself.
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