Built in early Gothic style in 1817, Ferns' 'modern' cathedral is thought to be the smallest in Europe. Its graveyard contains a high cross, said to mark the resting place of Dermot MacMurrough. In the field behind the cathedral stand two medieval ruins sitting in lonely isolation surrounded by grazing cattle: the Norman-built Ferns Cathedral and St Mary's Abbey . Dermot MacMurrough founded the abbey in 1158, inviting Augustinian monks to run a monastery here.
