THE CISTERCIAN Order of monks in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, has decided to sell a 200-acre farm, partly because of falling vocations.
Annaville, described by the selling agents as “a farm of historical and spiritual significance”, is to be put up for sale by public auction next month. The guide price is €2.3 million. The monks farm more than 800 acres in the Co Offaly region. Annaville is an outlying holding from their main dairy farm. It has been in the ownership of the monks since 1925, and has been used for livestock and arable farming.
“Due to the diminishing numbers of monks available to manage their farming enterprises, and also their wish to develop monastery buildings, the monks have reluctantly decided to sell Annaville,” said Anne-Louise Mitchell of selling agents Victor Mitchell Auctioneers, Roscrea.
Monastery spokesman and author, Dom Laurence Walsh, said Annaville, known to the monks as “Bulfins”, had a special place in the hearts of the monks. “In the heyday of the community 40 or 50 monks would walk there in single file carrying their forks, and in one round turn a whole field of hay, or stook a field of oats, all in silence,” said Mr Walsh.
There are approximately 20 monks in the abbey today.
“It is with great regret that, after 86 years, the monks have decided to put it up for sale, trusting it will equally be a blessing for the purchaser,” said Mr Walsh.
The nearby Mount Saint Joseph’s College which was founded by the monks is the alma mater of Taoiseach Brian Cowen who was a boarder there in the 1970s.