A synod was held at Newtown in 1216, which turned the sees of the churches of Trim, Kells, Slane, Skryne, and Dunshaughlin into rural deaneries.
In 1307, Richard Sweetman, the prior, was accused of murdering Robert Mody, one of the canons, and of assisting his brother, William Sweetman, to kill another canon. The prior gave Hugh de Lacie and John le Blounde, of Rathregan, as bail for his appearance at the next assizes. There is no record of the result of the trial.
William Shirwood, Bishop of Meath, was interred at Newtown Abbey in 1482.
The "jealous man and woman", believed to be Sir Lucas Dillon (died 1592) and his first wife Janet Bathe, their effigies covered in lichens.
The main building is the Church of St Peter and St Paul (sometimes called a cathedral). The abbey church features lancet windows, with Norman-style sedilia to the right of the altar, and a double piscina for washing communion vessels.[2]
