John de Courcy, a Norman knight who invaded Ulster, brought Benedictines from Stoke Courcy in Somerset and Lonlay in France, for whom he founded Black Abbey (St Andrews in Ards), near Inishargy in the 1180s.
Today virtually nothing remains of the abbey, apart from the Church of St Andrew, which also served the village, and the dovecote.
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The Priory of St. Andrews of the Ards (Blackabbey) was a Benedictine Abbey at Stogursey in Somerset.
To preserve the family's association with Normandy the priory was donated as a cell to the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at Lonlay.
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During the reign of King John of England (1199–1216) it became the property of one of his favourites and closest advisors, Fulke de Breauté of Gascony.
Stogursey Castle was built to the south of the village of Stogursey by the family of the De Courcys, probably in the late 11th or early 12th century.