Killone Abbey

Killone Abbey
Religion
Affiliation	Augustinian Pre-Reformation Catholic
Location
Shown within Ireland
Geographic coordinates	52°48′22.32″N 9°0′15.62″W
Architecture
Groundbreaking	founded c.1189 (or monks founded 1120)
Materials	sandstone
Website
http://www.newhall.ie

Killone Abbey (Irish: Mainistir Chill Eoin), situated in Killone, some 5 kilometres south of Ennis, County Clare, was a nunnery and abbey of Canonesses Regular founded in 1190 by Donal Mor O'Brien (Donal ‘the Great’ O’Brien), King of Thomond and Munster and dedicated to Saint John. It lies on the banks of Killone Lake.

The ruins of the abbey, accessible through land used for grazing cattle, are located in the grounds of Newhall House and Estate and include substantial remains of the abbey church together with a crypt. A narrow stone stairway leads between the altar and the east window to a ledge atop the remains of the south wall of the church, where an overview of the grounds may be seen with care.

Saint John's Holy Well

St John’s well, a holy well and altar to the northeast of the nunnery, lies on the edge of Killone Abbey. An inscription records that the altar was last repaired by an Ennis merchant, Anthony Roche, in 1731. The altar is topped with several "cursing stones" used for keeping count of the pilgrims' rounds at the well. The rounds are associated with a Pilgrim's Road connecting the site to Ennis town, although the nunnery itself does not form part of the well rounds.

Ancient pilgrims travelled the Rocky Road route to Killone for a mid-summer festival, it's been suggested that the well at Killone was originally dedicated to Jun, a Babylonian divinity - predating Killone Abbey.

With the introduction of Christianity and the foundation of Killone Abbey, the well of Jun, adjacent to Killone Abbey, now became dedicated to St. John the Baptist and a pattern of religious services replaced the old Pagan ways.

In 1306 thousands of people used to visit St. John's Well on June 24 and the road became known at 'The Pilgrims Road'.

Today, there is an outside mass each year in June held by the local parish.

Access

The abbey and graveyard is privately owned, part of Newhall Estate, owned by the Commane family, and as protected sites under national monument legislation, guardianship is vested in the Office of Public Works. As it is private land, access is available with the owner's permission. Killone Abbey is linked to Clare Abbey by the Pilgrim's Path, a footpath through Ballybeg forrest.

Folklore

Folklore has recorded so-called 'corpse lights' in the ruins of Killone, as well as at many other graveyards in Co. Clare. Killone Lake is also associated with the tale of a mermaid captured by one of the O'Briens. He took her home, where she remained until it is said a fool tried to make her speak by throwing boiling water at her. Running back to the lake, she vowed:

"As the return of the salmon from the stream,

A return without blood or flesh,

May such be the departure of the O'Briens,

Like ears of wild corn from Killone."

Soon after this curse, the O'Briens vanished from Killone, never to possess it again.

Gallery

• 
  Killone Abbey 1890 Lawrence Collection National Library of Ireland
• 
  Killone Abbey 1890 Lawrence Collection
• 
  Killone Abbey
• 
  Killone Abbey Graveyard Ennis
• 
  Killone Abbey Graveyard Ennis

See also

• List of abbeys and priories in Ireland (County Clare)

Sources

• Glichrist, R., Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology of Religious Women, (London, 1994)
• Ó Dálaigh, B., ‘Mistress, Mother and Abbess: Renalda Ní Bhriain c.1447-1510’ in North Munster Antiquarian Journal, 32, (1990) pp 50-63.
• O’Keeffe, T.  An Anglo-Norman Monastery: Bridgetown Priory and the Architecture of the Augustinian Canons Regular in Ireland, (Cork, 1999)
• Westropp, T.J., ‘The Augustinian Houses of the County Clare: Clare, Killone and Inchicronan’ in Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, (1900) pp 118-135.

External links

• Ruins of Killone Abbey
• Lawrence Collection Killone Abbey 1890