Mourne Abbey
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Mourne Abbey Mainstir Na Morna |
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| Parish | |
Mourne Abbey
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 Mourne Abbey
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| Coordinates: 52°08′00″N 08°39′00″W / 52.13333°N 8.65000°W | |
| Country |
 Ireland
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| Province | Munster |
| County | County Cork |
| Time zone | WET (UTC+0) |
| • Summer (DST) | IST (WEST) (UTC-1) |
Mourneabbey (in Irish Mainstir Na Mona) is a small civil and Roman Catholic parish in the barony of Barretts, northwest county Cork, Ireland. The parish is situated just south of Mallow, on the main Mallow-Cork Road and Rail Line. The population of the parish is about 1,000 people. There are two churches and schools in the area, Analeentha and Burnfort. The civil parish consists of 17 townlands.
In medieval times the area was known in Irish as An Móin Mór (the Great Bog). After the abbey was founded it was named Mainistir na Móna Móra (the abbey of the Great Bog). In medieval Latin documents it was usually referred to simply as Mora. It was formerly believed that the Abbey was built c. 1199 by the Knights Templar and later turned over to the Knights Hospitaller of St. John. The exact foundation date is not recorded but the earliest reference to it is 1290, when the 'master of Mora' witnessed a charter concerning Hospitaller properties in Dublin. Sections of the original enclosure walls with two towers still survive. The original enclosure was much larger but has been cut by modern roads and the railway embankment. Most of the original church is standing, and the large square tower at one corner of the enclosure is believed to have been a mill. In 1334 wardship of the ‘mill of Mora’ was granted to Christiana, wife of Henry Say, for a period of ten years. Another ruined building in the field south of the church may have been the monks' hall. The enclosure would have had a substantial gatehouse and a range of domestic and agricultural buildings including a refectory, an infirmary, a guesthouse, a dormitory, stables, brewhouse, forge and so on. The abbey came under the control of the McCarthys around 1500. It was closed down in 1541 after King Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the monasteries and was granted by the crown to the McCarthys
This abbey now lies in ruins, as does Barrett's Castle, on the nearby hilltop. The castle was originally built by Cogans, the Anglo-Norman lords who founded the nearby town of Ballynamona and who donated the lands to the Hospitallers to build the abbey. The castle was said to have been destroyed by Cromwell’s forces, around 1651.
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