Mellifont, or "honey fountain", was Ireland's first Cistercian house, founded in the 12C by Saint Malachie, together with French monks from Clairvaux. Although the church and abbey were burned and pillaged on numerous occasions, monastic activity continued here until the 16C. The remains of the original abbey include the bases of the pillars in the church, part of the octagonal building where the monks used to wash their hands, and a fragment of the colonnade in the cloisters.