The site was the little church and hermitage of St. Eric.
The ruined buildings on top of the Hill of Slane are the remains of a 1512 reconstruction of the old monastery which the Fleming family re-built for the Franciscans. The church has a fine west tower, about 19m high, with an earlier gothic-style window. The college, forming separate building a quadrangle, housed four priests, four lay-brothers and four choristers. Look for a number of carved heads and gargoyles. The Fleming arms are on the west wall of the quadrangle, and over the entrance in the southwest wall are the arms of England and France referred to above.
The friary was dissolved only 30 years later as the Reformation took effect in Ireland. In 1631 the Flemings tried again to restore it, but in less than 20 years the newly-installed Capuchin monks were driven out by Cromwell. It was finally abandoned as a place of worship in 1723.
In addition to a Third Order friary and a college with Capuchin associations on the Hill of Slane itself, there is evidence for a small Franciscan First Order community in the hermitage during 1648-50.
