A nineteenth century Coach House has been converted and now houses a prayer room, a library, meeting rooms. Guests staying in the hermitages have access to the Coach House and use of its facilities.

Prayer Room

Considered to be the most beautiful space in the Hermitage Centre, the Prayer Room overlooks part of the Glendalough valley.

It contains a tabernacle of bog yew which had been preserved for centuries in a bog in the West of Ireland. This houses the Blessed Sacrament linking us to the Eucharistic Presence as well as to our ancient roots in early Irish Christianity and even beyond to the primal sense of worship felt by our ancestors in this sacred landscape.

The Prayer Room also contains two pieces of sculpture by Brother Joseph McNally, one linked with a legend of St. Kevin and the other a miniature statue of Our Lady.

People have remarked on the sense of being enfolded in an atmosphere of beauty and of peace as they enter the sacred space of the Prayer Room.

Library

The library is small but well-stocked and contains titles in the following areas: spirituality, prayer, scripture, Celtic spirituality, women’s spirituality, ecology and poetry. Art supplies and a CD player are also available.

Guests are welcome to browse in the library or to borrow books or materials to use in their hermitages during their stay.

Meeting Rooms

There are two meeting rooms in the Coach House. A large room on the ground floor with adjacent kitchen facilities is suitable for groups of young people or adults who wish to visit Glendalough for a day retreat or to carry out other group work. Group facilitation and guided retreats are available.

A small room on the upper floor is suitable for one to one conversations, spiritual direction and prayer guidance. Spiritual accompaniment is available to both guests and others.