In 1578 the land was leased to James Garvey, who was  a brother to the Church of Ireland’s Archbishop of Armagh. From then until the 1800s, little is known of the friars attached to the friary but it is known they suffered persecution.

It is believed some of them relocated to the friary in Ballyhaunis when Murrisk friary ceased to function. One such friar, Fr. Myles Prendergast, had to spend many years on the run in the Clifden area. Although the friars were not in residence in the Friary, there is evidence to suggest some were sheltered in the area by locals and administered to their flock.

A chalice, now in Tuam, has the following inscription: ‘Pray for the souls of Theobald, Lord Viscount Mayo and his wife Maeve ni Cnochoure who had me made for the monastery of Murrisk in the year of our Lord 1635’.

One Fr. Philip Staunton appears to have been the last monk in Murrisk and later died in Ballintubber.

Cast in bronze, it depicts a coffin ship, the sails of which are fashioned like skeletons, representing the terrible, deadly plight of the famine stricken people from the time. In 2001 a similar monument was unveiled in New York close to the United Nations. On that ship is a plank depicting survivors entering America.

Five large stones lie directly in alignment with the sun as it comes down into a niche on the eastern shoulder of Croagh Patrick. This happens on the Winter Solstice on December 21st.

Other features here suggest this was a major ceremonial site, there are more stones surrounded by a large enclosure. Folk tales associate the site with Queen Maeve, the Celtic queen of the West of Ireland.

The Deerpark wall served as the townland boundary, but part of it is missing in the south end of the townland. Two square-shaped pens or deer folds built of stone can still be seen near the southern end of the townland, and what looks like the outline of a third can be made out in the north central part of the townland.

This Deerpark was probably part of the Westport House estate, the first house being built c.1650 -possibly on the site of a previous castle. Deerparks were a common medieval feature, introduced to Ireland by the Normans sometime around the 1300s, along with rabbits and fallow deer. Most counties in Ireland had one at some time.

The interior contains a circular stone enclosure and the low foundations of an early Christian church, located within a slightly elevated ancient burial area. Graves are marked by stones or simple grave markers. Close to the church is a bullaun stone (used as an ancient holy water font) with a hollowed out section.

On the eastern side of the church, a raised stone cairn may have been used as an altar or a grave. The church and burial ground are enclosed by a later graveyard wall, which was built to contain the remains of the Buchanan family who owned nearby Prospect House. The last burial here dates from the 1950s.

During British occupation, the landlords required tenants to grow crops for export on the good land, and the Irish were forced to utilise poorer soils. The potato was the only suitable crop. Potato blight swept the country, causing crops to fail and subsequent starvation, especially in the West of Ireland.

The area boasts a cultivated woodland of native oaks, a bronze age standing stone, a penal mass rock, a monastic settlement and burial chamber. The name Lankill itself is translated into Irish as Lainn Cille (Land of the Church).

Joyce, in his Names of Places, said ‘The word Lann is Irish but in its ecclesiastical application it was borrowed from Welsh. The purpose of standing stones is unclear; some are thought to be boundary/territorial markers, ritual or ceremonial sites, possible burial sites or part of an astrological alignment.

Only a small part of the church remains. A two storey school was attached to it to educate the children of workers. Catholic children were forced to attend.

According to the annals of Loch Ce, in 1063 A.D., 160 people were hiding in the caves for safety and were suffocated – reportedly with the jewels of Connacht.

Before and during penal times mass was held here in secret, to be caught was to risk the death penalty. Watchmen were placed on the cliffs to spot the authorities.