Inislounaght Abbey ( Irish: ''Mainistir Inis Leamhnachta'' - "monastery on the island of fresh milk"), also referred to as ''Innislounaght'', ''Inislounacht'' and ''De Surio'', was a 12th-century

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

settlement on the river

Suir The River Suir ( ; or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

, near

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...

, Ireland. It was originally dedicated to the

Blessed Virgin Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

Foundation

There was an ancient monastery on the site, founded before 656 by Saint Pulcherius. The abbey was refounded between 1142 and 1148 on lands donated by Malachy O'Phelan, lord of the Decies (part of which was in present-day

County Waterford County Waterford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is named after the city of Waterford. ...

), and Donald O'Brien,

king of Munster The kings of Munster () ruled the Kingdom of Munster in Ireland from its establishment during the Irish Iron Age until the High Middle Ages. According to Gaelic traditional history, laid out in works such as the ''Book of Invasions'', the earli ...

. It was located in rich agricultural land, about three kilometres west of Clonmel, on the northern bank of the river Suir. In 1240, a group of English monks from

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behi ...

were sent to replace the former abbot who had been

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

in 1234 following a legal dispute with the abbot of Dunbrody. Nine years later responsibility for the Abbey was transferred from

Mellifont Mellifont Abbey (, literally 'the Big Monastery'), was a Cistercian abbey located close to Drogheda in County Louth, Ireland. It was the first abbey of the order to be built in Ireland. In 1152, it hosted the Synod of Kells-Mellifont. After i ...

to Furness. In 1397, the

Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond ( meaning Earl of South Munster) is a title of nobility created by the English monarch in the peerage of Ireland. The title has been created four times. It was first awarded in 1329 to Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, Maur ...

and of Ormond met here to seal a treaty of peace. As with similar treaties between them, it did not last long.

Decline

In the 16th century, the Abbey lands came under the direct control of the

Butler dynasty Butler () is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormonde. The family ha ...

. According to Burke, "Amid the hundreds of religious houses which studded the country at the time of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, Innislounaght stood distinguished and alone in evil prominence".

That in the same quarter of Tipperary, how James Butler, Abbey of Inislounaght and Dean of Lismore, hath sundry times disobeyed the King's writ and is a man of odious life, taking yearly and daily men's wives and burgess' daughters and keepeth no divine service but spends the goods of his church in voluptuosity, and mortgages the lands of his church and so the house is all decayed , and useth
coyne and livery Coign and livery or coyne and livery () in Gaelic Ireland was the free entertainment which a chief exacted from his subjects for his servants and followers. Originally in Brehon law it took the form of a feast held when the chief passed through a s ...
.
From the Jury of the city of Waterford to the King's Commissioners. October 12 1537.

No trace of the Abbey now remains in its former location. There was still at least one arch standing in the early nineteenth century but much of the stonework is thought to have been used in the building of local mills, the present church (arch over entrance), and the Main Guard in nearby Clonmel (columns and associated elements). According to literary historian Patrick Leo (PL) Henry, Inislounaght may have been the inspiration for the fourteenth-century scathingly satirical poem Land of Cokaygne. The name was recorded as "Abby Slunnagh" in the maps and notes of the

Down Survey The Down Survey was a cadastral survey of Ireland, carried out by English scientist William Petty in 1655 and 1656. It was created to provide for precise re-allocation of land confiscated from the Irish. The survey was apparently called the "Do ...

. It is believed to have been located slightly to the west of the 19th century St. Patrick's Church graveyard, near the present day village of Marlfield. Efforts to locate its foundations in the 1840s by the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

were not successful. It is mentioned in

Geoffrey Keating Geoffrey Keating (; – ) was an Irish historian. He was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, and is buried in Tubrid Graveyard in the parish of Ballylooby-Duhill. He became a Catholic priest and a poet. Biography It was generally believed unt ...

's ''

Foras Feasa ar Éirinn ''Foras Feasa ar Éirinn'' – literally 'Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland', but most often known in English as 'The History of Ireland' – is a narrative history of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating, written in Irish and completed .Bernadette Cun ...

'' () in a description of the region:

Monks associated with Inislounaght

*Congan, Abbot in 1148. Requested St. Bernard to write 'The Life of

St. Malachy Malachy (; ; Modern ; ) ( 1094 – 2 November 1148) is an Irish saint who was Archbishop of Armagh, to whom were attributed several miracles and an alleged vision of 112 popes later attributed to the apocryphal (i.e. of doubtful authen ...

'(''De vita et rebus gestis S. Maiachiae, Hiberniae episcopi''). *Malmaire O'Brien, (otherwise Mairín Ó Briain), former

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel () was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church ...

, buried here in 1236. *Abbot Patrick, died 1462. *Abbotship disputed between Richard Loundres, Dermot O'Heffernan and William O'Dineen.

Pope Paul II Pope Paul II (; ; 23 February 1417 – 26 July 1471), born Pietro Barbo, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 30 August 1464 to his death in 1471. When his maternal uncle became Pope Eugene IV, Barbo switched fr ...

confirms Dineen in 1468. *Thomas Ochael appointed by

Pope Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...

on 19 May 1492. *Walter Butler, Abbot in 1503. *James Butler, appointed Abbot in 1510 *Nicholas Fagan, Abbot, died 1617. *Laurence FitzHarris of

New Ross New Ross (, formerly ) is a town in southwest County Wexford, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, on the River Barrow on the border with County Kilkenny, northeast of Waterford. In 2022, it had a population of 8,610, making it the fourth-largest t ...

, consecrated Abbot by Archbishop Fleming of Dublin on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

, 1625. FitzHarris was the last Abbot of Inislounaght, fleeing to France in 1649,The English Historical Review, Vol. 28, No. 110 (Apr. 1913), pp. 303–313 Published by: Oxford University Press Stable URL

/ref> to escape the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian regime. Unless otherwise indicated, all sourced from Burke pp406–423

Sources

*CONWAY (Rev. Columcille). "The Cistercian abbey of Inislounaght," ''Journal of the Clonmel Historical and Archaeological Society'', i, no. 4, pp. 3–52. (1955–56) *Colmcille Ó Conbhuidhe, Finbarr Donovan. ''The Cistercian Abbeys of Tipperary'', Four Courts Press, 1999 *Burke William P.
''History of Clonmel''
1907 (facsimile reprinted 1983)

External links

Cistercian Abbeys: INISLOUNAGHT (Suir)
British Library, MS Harley 913.
'Abby Slunagh' in relation to 'Clonmell Citty'
from

map. 'Waterford Historical and Archeological Journal' 1995, p124.

References

{{reflist Cistercian monasteries in the Republic of Ireland Churches in County Tipperary Christian monasteries established in the 1140s