Milltown Abbey (Site of) — Milltown (coonagh By., Grean Ed)

In pasture, on gentle S-facing slope, overlooking the Glenatrahaun Stream 50m to S which forms townland boundary with Ballyvouden and Dromin. The townland boundary with Ballynagally lies 270m to E. Aglishcormick graveyard (LI024-063001-) lies 660m to NE. No monument depicted at this location on the 1840 ed. OS 6-inch map. Annotated ‘Milltown Abbey (Site of)’ on the 1897 ed. OS 25-inch map. No surface remains visible of 15th century Carmelite Friary also known as Ballinegall (Ballinagally) (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 291). In 1840 the Ordnance Survey recorded that 'a spot of untilled ground surrounded by cultivated fields in the Townland of Milltown (Hib. Baile Mhuilinn) on the north side of the road from Kilteely to Limerick, is pointed out by people as the site of an old Abbey. I spoke to a man who remembered to have seen a portion of the walls standing, but not a vestige now remains. There are some very slight elevations in the ground, which may be the site of the foundations, but no measurement can now be taken. The walls of this Abbey fell upwards of forty years ago and the stones have been used in building the wall which separated its site from the road, as also in building several of the neighbouring houses' (OSL Aglishcormick Parish; O'Flanagan 1929, 42). The location of the abbey in the townland of Milltown was described by Gwynn and Hadcock (1970, 291) as following; 'In 1459—60, when Thomas Wallse was provincial, Kennedy Macbriayn and Torieleus, brothers, and James Deles, donsels of the dioceses of Emly and Limerick, had recently given to Donald Ygormellay and William de Burgo, Carmelite friars, a place called villa molendini (editor identifies as Milltown in Aglishcormick parish, dioc[ese]. Emly), so that a monastery should be built; Donald and William had accepted, lived there and celebrated Masses without licence, but they had left when excommunicated by the ordinary and had appealed to the pope, who ordered the abp. of Cashel to examine the case and, if he found fit, to issue a licence for the building of a proper monastery: CPR. The townlands of Milltown and Ballinegaul (Ballinegallal) are adjoining and the friary appears sometimes under one name and sometimes under the other, so that it has been confused with the Dominican Ballinegaul, several miles to the south in the dioc[ese]. of Limerick'. In 1556—7 Donough O'Dangane was prior of Ballinegall and he was found to be seized of a 2-acre site of the friary and church, a water-mill and 10 acres of land, val. 10s. 4d.: This must refer to the Carmelite friary as the Dominican Ballinegaul, being a small dependency of Kilmallock, would not have a prior (ibid.). In 1826 the following account was given about this Carmelite Friary; 'Ballynegall, situated in the same vicinity, was once a town of some importance, and was built by the English. The family of Roche founded a monastery here in the 14th century; and Queen Elizabeth in her 39th year granted the same (which in the patent is expressly called a Carmelite Friary) with half a carucate of land belonging thereto, to the University of Dublin. Donogh O'Donegane was the last Prior of this house' (Fitzgerald and McGregor 1826, 344). According to Begley (1906, 355) the monastic foundation at Ballinagall was 'a Dominican Priory. However, in the State Papers of Edward VI (1551-2) it is described as the monastery of the White Friars of Ballinegaul, County Limerick, thereby implying that it was a Carmelite foundation, as White Friars was their usual designation. In Peyton's Survey of 1586 it is called the residence of the Braher duffe alias the Black Friars in Ballinegaul. According to this authority the site of the various buildings, which were entirely ruined, with certain gardens was estimated at half an acre; the other possessions in the vicinity amounted to a half quarter and two acres". The town and lands of Ballinegaul and the said house of fryers doe all lye waste." There is no obvious trace of a medieval friary visible on Digital Globe orthophotos taken 2011-13 and on Google Earth orthoimages taken 28/06/2018. There is a raised area in the field 110m to NE which is visible on Digital Globe imagery taken 2011-13, this area which is partially defined by a linear earthwork could have been related to the monastic foundation. Compiled by: Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien Date of upload: 18 July 2020