[5][6][7][8] A chapel dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul was founded by Cistercian monks in 1254, dependent on Dunbrody Abbey, County Wexford.

[citation needed] The Cistercian foundation declined and was replaced with a Dominican friary dedicated to Saint Mary Assumed into Heaven, Peter and Paul, founded in 1426 by Murchad Ó Madáin of the powerful O'Madden lords of Síol Anmchadha.

[9] Portumna was dissolved c. 1582 and granted to Ulick Burke, 3rd Earl of Clanricarde.

Richard Ó Madadhan was prior in 1691, when the friars were forced to flee after the Battle of Aughrim.

Patrick Sarsfield, 1st Earl of Lucan married Honora Burke here on 9 January 1689, in the midst of the War of the Two Kings.