INISLOUNAGHT (Suir)
INNISLONNAGH or ABBEY, a parish, partly in the barony of IFFA and OFFA EAST, county of TIPPERARY, and province of MUNSTER, and partly in that of GLENAHEIRY, county of WATERFORD, 2 miles (W.S.W.) from Clonmel, on the road from Cork to Dublin. St. Mochoemoc, who died in 655, founded an abbey here, which was refounded by Donald O'Brien, King of Limerick, in 1187, and at the reformation was granted by Queen Elizabeth to Edward Geogh. It is stated to have been a very beautiful building, with a chapel consecrated by St. Patrick; near its ruins is a celebrated holy well. In 1399, John, Earl of Desmond, brought his forces hither, and was met by the Earl of Ormonde and his followers, when these noblemen were reconciled. The parish comprises 8933 statute acres, and the land is generally rich and well cultivated. The living is a rectory, in the diocese of Lismore, episcopally united in 1815 to the rectory of Monksland.
Inislounaght was, it seems, colonised with monks from Mellifont some time between 1147 and 1148, althugh there remains some confusion as to whether or not it was a daughter-house of Maigue. The monastery was situated about 300 yards from the river Suir, and the natural beauty of the area is reflected in the abbey’s Irish name: ‘Inis Leamhnachta’ (island of the fresh milk). Its Latin name is simply a translation of the name of the river, ‘Surium’, and the abbey was often known as ‘Suir’.
The Suir was a major traffic artery and the monastery was not therefore immune from the commercial world outside its walls. During the 1220s Inislounaght became heavily involved in the ‘conspiracy of Mellifont’ (1216-1228) and the abbey became a centre of rebellion against the Cistercian General Chapter. In 1227 affiliation of the abbey was transferred from Monasteranenagh to Furness and a monk of Furness was appointed abbot. This sparked off a rumpus for the monks of Inislounaght refused to admit their new abbot. A represnetative of the Order was sent to investigate matters but upon his arrival was ambushed by the prior; he was severely wounded and the boy accompanying him was beaten. Stephen of Lexington was shocked by the wickedness of these actions and decided to visit the abbey himself. The monks finally admitted him and he remained at the abbey for three days to restore discipline. In 1249 a colony of monks was sent from Furness to Inislounaght so that authority could be strengthened. At that time the number of monks in the community probably matched Jerpoint, thirty-six monks and fifty lay-brothers. A fourteenth-century poem, entitled Land of Cokaygne, written in old English in the Franciscan friary of Kildare, satirises life in an Irish Cistercian monastery.
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By the time of the Dissolution the house was on the verge of extinction, with a community of just five. In 1541 the annual income of the house was valued at meager £39. The last abbot, James Butler, surrendered the abbey in April 1540. In 1541 the royal commissioners reported that the church could be demolished; the other monastic buildings were deemed necessary for the use of the local farmer, Thomas Butler. In 1542 Thomas was created Baron of Caher with grants of this abbey and Caher priory. In 1577 the property was transferred to Cormac M’Teige M’Carthy. The ruins were still visible in the mid-eighteenth century but today there is no sign of the abbey. However, the Protestant church at Marfield incorporates some fragments of the old abbey; the east window may have been taken from the abbey church and a Romanesque doorway dates from c. 1180 – 1200. A tomb slab is built into the wall of the churchyard, decorated with an elaborate cross and inscription. |
FURNESS abbey was first founded in 1124 by Stephen, then count of Mortain and lord of Lancaster, and later king of England (1135-54). The original site was at Tulketh near Preston in Lancashire. Three years later the house was moved to a more suitable site on the Furness peninsula. Furness was part of the Savigniac congregation and therefore objected strongly to the union of Savigny and Citeaux. However their protests were to no avail and Furness was absorbed into the Cistercian Order in 1147 along with all the other Savigniac houses. The abbey, under the special protection of the Crown, developed rapidly and soon became almost as powerful as Fountains. Furness was very wealthy: in the survey of 1535 the net annual income was valued at £805 which made it the second richest Cistercian house in England, after Fountains. As such it should not have been dissolved until 1538/9 when the larger monasteries were forced to surrender. However, the involvement of some of its monks in the uprising known as in the Pilgrimage of Grace during the winter of 1536-7, and the fact that Furness had openly questioned Henry VIII's declaration of supremacy over the church, led to its closure in 1537. When Robert Radcliffe, a close friend of the king, entered Lancashire to quell the disturbances of 1536-7, his progress was marked by a series of executions. He suggested that Furness surrender as a ‘voluntary discharge of conscience’; the abbot followed his advice and this hastened the abbey’s end.
GLANAWYDAN abbey, Waterford was founded in 1170 or 1195-1200. It was colonised with monks from Inislounaght. By 1227, however, the abbey was found to be too poor and lacking in personnel to continue and in 1228 Stephen of Lexington decided to unite the abbey with Dunbrody. In 1232 the abbey was reduced, on account of poverty, to a grange of Dunbrody. Inislounaght regained possession of the property, c. 1278, when filiation with Mellifont was restored and it has been suggested that Glanawydan was revived as an abbey for a time. In 1541 Glanawydan came as part of the possessions of Inislounaght.