Mainistir Uaithne | |
![]() Thomas Dineley drawing of Abbey Ony (1681) | |
![]() ![]() Location within Ireland | |
Monastery information | |
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Other names | Abbey of Wotheny Abbey of Owney |
Order | Cistercians |
Established | 1205 |
Disestablished | 1563 |
Mother house | Congregation of Savigny |
Diocese | Cashel and Emly |
People | |
Founder(s) | Theobald Walter, 1st Chief Butler of Ireland |
Architecture | |
Status | Inactive |
Style | Cistercian |
Site | |
Location | Abington, Murroe, County Limerick, Ireland |
Coordinates | 52°37′59″N 8°25′19″W / 52.6331217°N 8.4219608°W |
Public access | No |
The Cistercian Abbey of Woney (Irish, Mainistir Uaithne), also written Wotheny or Owney,[1][2] on the banks of the Mulkear River in Abington, County Limerick, was founded in 1205 when Theobald Walter (le Botiller), brother of Hubert Walter (Archbishop of Canterbury),[3] granted the whole "theodum" (believed to be an error, which should have been feodum) of Woodenikuwice for the purpose.[4] Traces of the architecture and layout of the monastery may still seen in the graveyard[5] in the hamlet of Abington, just south of Murroe.
In the early fourteenth century the possessions of the abbey included the lands of Athnid parish in County Tipperary.[6]
Around 1563, the abbey and all its possessions were granted by Elizabeth I to a Captain Walshe who erected a new house near the old buildings.[7] In 1609, part of the lands which formerly belonged to the abbey were conveyed by Sir E. Walsh to Sir Richard Boyle.[8] In the war of 1641 the estates granted to the Walshe family were forfeited to the Crown.[9]