JERPOINTABBEY

In 1868, the parish of Jerpointabbey contained the following places:

"JERPOINTABBEY, a parish in the barony of Gowran, county Kilkenny, province of Leinster, Ireland, 1 mile W.S.W. of Thomastown. The parish lies along the river Nore, and was anciently the site of a corporate town. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Ossory, value, with Burnchurch, £700, in the patronage of the crown. It forms part of the Roman Catholic union of Thomastown. This parish takes its name from a Cistercian abbey.

The abbey was founded by Donogh O'Donoghoe, King of Ossory, in the year 1180; and a company of monks of the Cistercian order were brought to it, from a distant part of Ossory. The founder died within 5 years after establishing and endowing the abbey, and his remains were interred there. In 1202 it became the burial-place of Felix O'Dullany, Bishop of Ossory, and at his tomb many miracles were believed to be performed. It was soon an object of ambition with the great families to have tombs in a place so honoured. The last abbot was Oliver Grace, who surrendered the abbey to Henry VIII. at the Dissolution. Its temporalities were subsequently granted to James Butler, Earl of Ormonde. The ruins are extensive, but are fast disappearing. The most perfect of them is the tower. The tombs of the founder, of the Graces, and of the Butlers, may be distinguished."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868]
by Colin Hinson ©2018