There is nothing left of Inislounaght Abbey above ground. One of the great Cistercian monasteries of Tipperary, it stood on the north bank of the River Suir about three kilometres west of Clonmel, at Marlfield – but the walls were robbed for stone over the centuries, and what you visit now is the churchyard of St Patrick’s Church of Ireland, which sits on or beside the old site. Come for the fragments, not for an abbey.
The name is the best of it: Inis Leamhnachta, ‘the island of fresh milk’, a few fields from Clonmel, Cluain Meala, ‘the honey meadow’. Stand in the graveyard and you are, quite literally, in the land of milk and honey.
What survives
The single best piece is indoors and you may not get to it: a four-order Romanesque doorway from the abbey church, built into the interior west wall of St Patrick’s. The church is often locked, so if it matters to you, ask locally or time a visit around a service. A medieval graveslab is set into the floor at the west door.
Out in the graveyard, where you can wander freely, the fragments are scattered among later graves:
- A 16th-century limestone panel from a chest-tomb, carved with St Peter holding his key and a second figure.
- A 13th- or 14th-century cross-slab, reused as a grave marker.
- A late-16th or early-17th-century graveslab built into the cemetery wall, its cross with a seven-armed head and fleur-de-lis tips.
More of the abbey is held in the stores of Tipperary County Museum (tracery and carved column pieces), and more again was built into other places: stone went into local mills, and the columns of Clonmel’s Main Guard are said to have come from here.
History
An early monastery stood here before 656, founded by Saint Pulcherius. The Cistercian abbey came later, settled by monks from Mellifont around 1147–48 on land given by Malachy O’Phelan, lord of the Decies, and Donal Mór O’Brien, king of Munster. It grew wealthy enough to found daughter houses of its own – among them Corcomroe in the Burren, whose monks came out from here. In the 1200s, during the upheaval the Cistercians called the ‘conspiracy of Mellifont’, Inislounaght was pulled out of the Mellifont family and placed under Furness Abbey in England. The Earls of Desmond and Ormond met here in 1399 to patch up a quarrel.
By the time the Crown got round to dissolving it in 1540, discipline had collapsed. An official report names the abbot, James Butler, as ‘a man of odious life’ who kept no divine service and spent the abbey’s goods on his own pleasures, leaving the house decayed. Some walls were still standing in 1746; none are now. One nice footnote: the abbey may have been the inspiration for The Land of Cokaygne, a sharp 14th-century satire on lazy, well-fed monks.
Getting there
Drive west out of Clonmel towards Marlfield and follow the signs to St Patrick’s Church; there’s a free car park at the graveyard, and the site is free and self-guided. There are no toilets, café or visitor centre, so bring water. The ground is flat but uneven, so wear decent shoes.
Athassel Priory, the largest medieval priory in Ireland, is a short drive north and gives you the standing ruin Inislounaght no longer can. Cahir Castle and the Rock of Cashel are both within easy reach. And if you want to close the loop, go and find those columns in Clonmel’s Main Guard – the abbey is still in the town, just rebuilt into something else.