Indicated — Abington

A stone bridge traversing the Mulkear River to the S of the Cistercian Abbey (LI014-014002-), church (LI0114-014005-) and graveyard (LI014-014006-) is depicted on the 1656 Down Survey map of the barony of Owneybeg (NLI, MS 718). The Down Survey map of Owneybeg barony depicted the medieval settlement (LI014-014001-) of Abbeyowney standing either side of the Mulkear River in close proximity to the ruins of Owneybeg Abbey and the medieval corn mill (LI014-014007-) (ibid.). On this map a cluster of dwellings representing the medieval settlement of Owneybeg are shown standing beside the bridge. The terrier of the Down survey map of Abbeyowneybeg parish recorded that in this parish ‘there is an abbey p[ar]te whereof is Thatcht and about thirty Thatch Houses a good Corne Mill and a bridge on the Mannor of Abbeyowthneybegg’ (ibid.). The 1654-56 Civil Survey of Limerick recorded that in the parish of Abbeyowney there was ‘a Mannor Towne wth the priviledge of a Courte Leete and Courte barron. Ye River of Muilcherne leadinge through the said Towne and a stone bridge thereuppon one Mill two fishing weares a Demolished stone house with two Orchards and a garden upon Rath and Cnocknegurteeny’ (Simington 1938, 3). In 1681 Thomas Dineley visited Abington and made a drawing of the abbey ruins which he showed standing beside a six-arched bridge traversing the Mulkear River, a cluster of dwellings representing the medieval settlement (LI014-014001-) of Abbey Owney were shown standing at either end of the bridge (Shirley et. al. 1865, 278). The present road bridge (L 38m; Wth. 6m; wall T 0.4m) over the Mulkear River stands 170m SSE of the abbey (LI014-014001-) and was described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage [NIAH] as a 'Six-arch limestone road bridge over the River Mulkear, built c. 1740, with earlier fabric. Rubble limestone and sandstone walls with limestone cappings and inscribed limestone plaque to west parapet wall. Roughly dressed limestone voussoirs to round-headed arches. Rubble limestone V-cutwaters to east elevation' (wwww.buildingsoireland.ie). The bridge was described by Simington and O'Keeffe (1991, 200) as a bridge of 'six arches with the piers almost equal to the spans. The arches are nearly semi-circular and the roadway overhead is level. The spans are about 15ft [4.5m]. It is a substantial bridge, probably dating from the first half of the 18th century. There is a plaque [LI014-014013-] set in the parapet. It is about 2ft 6in [0.76m] long by 2ft [0.6m] high and the letters are almost illegible. It does not belong to this bridge but to an earlier one which previously spanned the river about a quarter of a mile downstream'. Simington and O'Keeffe (1991, 200-01) stated that 'The most interesting feature of Dineley's sketch of the bridge is the raised battlement on the centre pier on the upriver parapet. It appears to be perforated. It resembles the high section of parapet on Gormanstown Bridge previously described and could have been a raised battlement. The most likely explanation is that it was the plaque (LI014-014013-) housed in a niche'. However Barry (1890, 50) stated that the present bridge dates from 1621 and he recorded that, 'The bridge still remains, which was erected by Lady Ellice Walsh after the death of her husband, the then proprietor, who was drowned here in 1618, according to an inscription on his tomb, which is still in a fair state of preservation. A slab, containing the arms of Walsh, and the following inscription, is inserted in the battlements of the bridge - " The Arms of Sir Edmund Walsh and his wife, Ellice Grace, who erected this bridge, after the death of her husband, for devotione and charitie, praying passengers to pray for the rest of their soules in Heaven, A.D. 1621." This bridge has six arches ; it was widened by adding to the south side about 120 years ago'. The semi-circular shaped arches are very similar to the arches drawn by Thomas Dineley in 1681. There is evidence of a straight joint underneath the arches of the bridge indicating that the bridge was widened on the E side in the 18th century (Seymour 1907, 179). It is likely that part of the W half of the present bridge dates from the 17th century and is contemporaneous with the 17th-century armorial plaque (LI014-014013-) of the Walsh family of Abbeyowney which is visible in the W parapet wall. However it has been suggested that the 17th century bridge was located closer to the medieval corn mill, weir and Cistercian Abbey. In 1865 it was recorded that 'The present bridge of Abington is not the one shown on the drawing of the abbey; the ancient bridge probably stood higher up, but below the weir; the inscribed stone was removed from that bridge, on the top of the parapet of which it seems to have been raised to its present position, built into the parapet of the present bridge, which I think has but five arches' (Shirley 1865, 278). Simington and O'Keeffe (1991, 200) recorded that only one bridge was depicted on Moll's map of 1714, but two bridges were depicted in 1778 on Taylor and Skinner's road map from Loughrea to Bruff which led them to suggest that the present road bridge was constructed between these two dates. The remains of this second bridge (LI014-014016-) are located approx. 200m W of the present road bridge. The linear cropmark of a roadway leading to this 18th century bridge can be seen in the field to the S of the Mulkear River. The linear earthwork visible on the Digital Globe aerial photograph appears to be the remains of the 18th century roadway shown on Taylor and Skinner's road map (Taylor and Skinner 1778, map No. 210). The NIAH suggested that the present road bridge dated from the first half of the 18th century but incorporated fabric from an earlier bridge. The present location of the bridge matches closely the location drawn by Thomas Dineley. The present bridge appears to have been built in 1621 on the site of a medieval fording point of the Mulkear River and was widened on the E side in the 18th century. In the early 18th century a second bridge (LI014-014016-) was constructed crossing the Mulkear River which was located approx. 200m W of the present bridge. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien and Matt Kelleher Date of upload: 28 June 2017