Name:
KILCOOLY Location: Kilcooly parish County:
Tipperary Foundation: 1182-1184 Mother house:
Jerpoint Relocation: None Founder: Donal
Mor O’Brien Dissolution: 1540 Prominent members: Access: Accessible to the public
Kilcooly abbey was founded in 1182 by Donal Mor O’Brien,
king of Thormond, and may have originally been intended
for
monks
from Daire-Mor. In any case the abbey was affiliated to Jerpoint in
1184. The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin
Mary and St.
Benedict.
The location of the abbey was unusual. Whereas most Cistercian
houses were situated close to streams or rivers, Kilcooly was
founded
in the middle of a flat plain. Its Latin name Arvus Campus ('the
arable plain'), reflects the location of the abbey. In
1228 Stephen of Lexington was attacked by robbers in a forest
near Kilcooly
while visiting the Cistercian houses in Ireland. Stephen later
deposed the abbot of Kilcooly for neglecting his duties and the
prior was
ordered to act under the new English abbot of Jerpoint. In 1418,
the monastery was damaged by fire and in 1445 the abbey was almost
completely destroyed by armed men. Apparently the abbot was forced
to travel to England with two of his monks in search of food
and
clothing. By c. 1500 an abbot’s tower had been erected over
the south transept. At the time of Dissolution only two monks
lived
at the monastery and the abbey had an annual income of £32,
with a potential peace time value of £46. The abbey was
surrendered in 1540 and the property was granted to James Butler,
earl of Ormond.
Following the Dissolution it seems that the monastery was converted
into a number of dwelling houses. In the 1640s it is thought that
the Cistercian monks may have returned to the monastery for a brief
period when one, John Stapleton, is said to have served his novitiate here.
In 1690, John Stevens noted that the ruined walls were divided
into two or three small apartments. In the late eighteenth
century Sir William Barker, whose family had resided in the old
monastery, built a winged house to the east of the abbey and transferred
his family there. In 1840 his house was destroyed by fire and William
thus built
a summer-house in the
ruins
of the
abbey,
which
he later
used as a residence. The house was still occupied in the first
half of the twentieth century.
Little survives of the original
monastic
buildings although there are extensive remains of the fifteenth-century
church. These include the presbytery, the arches of the
crossing tower supported on a series of well cut corbels, two elaborate
stone sedilia and a sculptured sacristy. The church contains carvings
of the twelve apostles, a dolphin and a mermaid. The cloister buildings
have been so much altered since 1540 that it is difficult to discern
the medieval fabric. The protestant church to the north-east was
built on the site of a chapel, thought to have been the old gatehouse
chapel. Several tombs have survived, including the sculptured slab
of abbot Philip O’Molwanayn (d. 1463) and an effigy to Pierce
Butler, a member of the Butlers of Ormond family, who died in
1526.
The ruins lie on open plain and can be accessed by the public.