The abbey was founded by the Irish king Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid (died 862) in 846, according to the Annals of the Four Masters.

It was originally Benedictine, but in 1139 was given by Malachy O'Morga, the legate of the Pope, to monks belonging to the Congregation of Savigny, which in 1147 joined the Cistercian order.

A series of charters and statutes of the Parliament of Ireland increased its liberties, including the right to claim goods salvaged from shipwrecks on the coast of County Dublin, and the right to deal with their lands in territories controlled by the "hostile Irish" without incurring the usual penalties.

Several of de Burgh's men were killed before he was captured, and as the monks were suspected of supporting Bruce, the abbey was laid waste.

The spacious lands which had been owned by the monks came in time to be let to persons who desired to build residences or places of business thereon.

[2] In 1619, Sir Gerald Moore of Mellifont, Drogheda, received from King James I of England a grant of the abbey, together with its tithes and lands.

Dr.Charles Lindsay, Dean of Christ Church Cathedral (1804–46) and afterwards Bishop of Kildare, acquired the old monastic lands of Glasnevin, which had once belonged to the abbey.

[9] In 2023, as part of the excavation of the area for the construction of a hotel, the remains of over 100 skeletons dating back to the early 11th century were found on the site.