Gerald, Earl of Kildare. The monastery was physically destroyed during the military operations of the Elizabethan era. In 1572, Bryan O'Neill burnt Grey Abbey to stop it being used as a refuge for English colonists trying to settle in the Ards Peninsula. During the 17th century the church nave was re-roofed and served as a parish church until 1778. In the late 19th century, repairs were executed by The Office of Public Works (The O.P.W.) Unfortunately, an excessive amount of concrete was used, the crudity of which is still obvious today. The remains of the abbey include the abbey church and some of the conventual buildings, dating from c.1193 – c.1250. The original plan of the monastery can be followed with ease through foundations and earthworks. The abbot's seat has been preserved. It is fitted inside a pointed arch and flanked by detached colonettes. Corbel tables are also a rarity in Ireland, but the Cistercians can boast two of them, one at Tintern and one at Grey. At Grey the corbels were inserted when the roof was raised, probably in the early fifteenth century. There are eight of them altogether, carved with oak leaves, human figures and animal heads. An outstanding effigy of a 'sword seizing' knight survives, thought to date from c. 1300 as well as an effigy of a woman carved in high relief and attired in thickly cut robes. Tradition relates that this is Affreca, who was buried in the abbey, but the style suggests that the effigy actually originated in the fourteenth century, a hundred years after her death. The ruins are now set in a private parkland, belonging to the eighteenth-century mansion, Rosemont House. The park is not accessible to the public. Irish Rebellion of 1798: on the morning of Pike Sunday, 10 June 1798, a force of United Irishmen, mainly from Greyabbey, Bangor, Donaghadee, and Ballywalter, attempted to occupy the town of Newtownards. They met with musket fire from the market house and were defeated. It is because of this association with the rebellion that the term "The Green Boys o' Greba" was given to the men of the village. GREBA is the name given to the village by the local residents, and also by those from the neighbouring areas. It is a localised "Ulster-Scots" terminology. The Rebellion of 1798 also affected the village in another form, with the death by hanging of the