Malahide Abbey
Adjacent to the Castle we find the ruins of Malahide Abbey. Malahide was part of the parish of Swords from the end of the monastic system of organisation in the 12th. Century until 1941 when it became a parish in its own right. Malahide Abbey may have been created for the purpose of providing an aid to legislation for the Talbot family. Its size meant that it was no private oratory or chapel and the fact that it was surrounded by a cemetery as most parish churches were would indicate that it probably served the people of Malahide from the 12th to 16th Century.
In 1630, the Abbey was stated to be in a ruinous condition and may have been closed since the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII. When Cromwell installed Myles Corbet in Malahide Castle for a brief period, tradition has it that Corbet used the Abbey as stables and stripped the lead off the roof to make bullets. Within the Abbey is to be found the 16th. Century tomb of Maud Plunkett who was “ maid, wife and widow” on the one day, her husband having been killed in battle on their wedding day. On the north-east angle of the Abbey may be seen a Sheela-na-Gig, a grotesque carving, whose function it was to warn the faithful of the terrible results of sin and excess. Generations of Talbots lie buried in the adjoining cemetery .