Joe Mahon takes a closer look at GreyAbbey, a small village located on the eastern shores of Strangford Lough, on the Ards Peninsula in County Down. Greyabbey was founded in 1193 by Affreca, daughter of Godred Olafsson, King of the Isles, and the wife of John de Courcy, the Anglo-Norman invader of East Ulster. The remains are in the beautiful parkland setting of the nearby grand house of Rosemount, home of the Montgomery family. Architecturally, Greyabbey is important as the first fully gothic style building in Ulster.
Mahon meets a local historian who paints a vivid picture of the past and tells of the history of the place. He visits a reconstructed ‘medieval’ medicinal herb garden and also learns how to write a manuscript the old fashioned way. A local Archaeologist tells us about the wealth of archaeological heritage in the Strangford Lough area and Mahon goes mud diving too - of course with the Strangford Lough Mud Rescue team ready for action.