Abbeylands

113 registered freehold parcels lie mostly in Abbeylands, from 14 m² to 257,927 m² (25.79 ha, 63.74 acres). The dashed line is the townland's boundary; 27 neighbouring parcels touch it.

• R2Existing Residential (Existing residential)
  Rathkeale Local Area Plan 2023-2029, Limerick · 101 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• C2.1Enterprise and Employment (Industrial, enterprise, employment)
  Rathkeale Local Area Plan 2023-2029, Limerick · 9 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• G5Open Space and Recreation (Mixed/general 'green'/recreation/conservation, other)
  Rathkeale Local Area Plan 2023-2029, Limerick · 3 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• R1New Residential (New/proposed residential)
  Rathkeale Local Area Plan 2023-2029, Limerick · 2 parcels The zoning objective in the plan
• S5Education and Community (Mixed/general community services/facilities uses)
  Rathkeale Local Area Plan 2023-2029, Limerick · 0 parcels The zoning objective in the plan

Source: Tailte Éireann and the Department of Housing (MyPlan), national zoning, CC BY 4.0.

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Source: National Planning Applications, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Applicants are not shown.

Designated sites

No designated site (Special Area of Conservation, Special Protection Area, Natural Heritage Area or proposed one) touches the townland of Abbeylands.

Recorded monuments

• LI029-031006 Religious house - Augustinian canons
  Description

  The Urban Survey of Limerick recorded the following details about St. Mary's Augustinian Priory of Rathkeale (Bradley et. al. 1989, 222-4); 'This is said to have been founded by Gilbert Harvey in the early thirteenth century (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 190). In 1436 an indulgence was granted to penitents visiting and giving alms for the repair of the church (ibid., 191). The monastery was suppressed in 1542 but a small community may have remained until the Desmond Rebellion in the 1580s. Subsequently the monastery was granted to Sir Henry wallop (ibid.). This thirteenth century abbey with fifteenth and sixteenth century additions is located at the north-east end of the town. It was built of rubble masonry with sandstone jambs while later additions are in limestone. It was a single aisled nave and chancel church with evidence for a possible southern cloister in the form of a gable line for a two storied eastern range and a low roof line for a north ambulatory in the south wall. It had a vaulted north tower of uncertain height and a two to three floored building of the north side of the chancel. The west tower was possibly of four floors. The surviving remains consist of the south and east walls of the church, the chancel end of the north wall and the ground floor of the north tower. Part of the north wall of the west tower also survives. Church The east stepped gable is almost intact although the coping stones on the north side are missing. The thirteenth century window with sandstone jambs almost filled the east wall but this was filled in and a four-light window with switchline tracery inserted probably in the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Externally the window has a limestone hood moulding with tapering chamfered stops. The inner face of the wall below the window is damaged and there are sandstone blocks built into the wall. Only the eastern half of the north wall survives and the only original feature appears to be the east splay of a window with sandstone jambs near the east end. There is a blocked round arch, also near the east end, into which a (?)sixteenth century tomb recess was inserted. The wall facing within the recess is missing. The south wall is c. 8.5m high and the drainage course and chutes are fairly intact. The chancel was originally lit by five very narrow splayed lancets with chamfered sandstone jambs and rounded rear arches. These are all damaged now and a twin-light ogee-headed window (also badly damaged) was inserted into the fifth window from the east. There is a wall recess (?sedilia) below the second window from the east and possibly another below the fourth. A possible round arched door opened to the east cloister garth while further west there is an inserted high pointed opening with roughly dressed voussoirs and jambs above which there is a ?bellcote. A further blocked round arched opening occurs close to the west end of the wall. Only one short section of the west wall c. 5m high remains but as this is battered internally it is probably not the original west wall of the church but rather the east wall of the west tower. North tower Only the barrell vault of the ground floor remains. The external facing of the featureless east wall is gone while the north wall is missing. Much of the south wall is rebuilt but there is a round arched doorway at the east end opening into the church with flat lintelled rear arch set into the barrell vault. There was another splayed opening at the west end of the wall to the church but this is now blocked. West tower Only 4m of the north wall remains along with a pile of rubble. There is evidence that the first floor was supported on wooden beams and there were small flat lintelled splayed slits at ground and first floor levels. A view of the tower late in the last century shows that it was then covered in ivy (Hewson 1879,86-90)'. See attached drawing of Abbey taken from Hewson 1879. Compiled by: Denis Power Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 14 January 2019

• LI029-031011 Graveyard
  Description

  The following account was given by Celie O'Rahilly about the discovery of a burial possibly belonging to a graveyard associated with the Augustinian Abbey (LI029-031006-) in Rathkeale ; 'In 1992 during pipe-laying for a sewerage scheme, mechanical excavations uncovered human remains in Rathkeale, Co. Limerick, in the main street of the village opposite the abbey [LI029-031006-]. The bones and associated soil were lying on the footpath in a very disturbed condition at the time of inspection. The site was reported to the NMI and an investigation was carried out on its behalf by Celie O'Rahilly, archaeologist with Limerick Corporation. The human remains were examined by Barra Ó Donnabháin. The site was in the townland of Abbeylands, in the town of Rathkeale, Co. Limerick.48 It lay in the main street of the town, Boherboy, close to the grounds of the abbey in the town, at an altitude of 40—50m above sea level. The cut for the pipe measured 0.7m east/west by 1.2m north/south by 0.55m deep. The gravepit was 0.63m long from the south side to the edge of the footpath, and the remaining portion continued underneath the road. The grave-cut was visible in the eastern section of the pit. It was cut into very hard, dark orange natural clay. At the base of this cut, which was backfilled with a darker, more mixed soil, was a layer of soft brown soil. In situ human remains were also visible at the base of the cut, just above the bedrock. The grave had contained an articulated skeleton (2007:21), apparently aligned west/east, with the skull to the west. The remains represented an adult female, aged 25—35 years at the time of death. No associated artefacts were found in the grave. The in situ bones in the east section of the cut may be the lower half of the body. No further details were available as to the disposition of the burial. In the absence of associated finds or other dating evidence this burial must be regarded as undated' (Cahill and Sikora 2011, vol. 2, 364-367). Compiled by: Denis Power Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 26 July 2019

• LI029-145 Barrow - unclassified
  Description

  On flat pasture 115m N of the townland boundary with Ballywilliam North. The enclosure is within the demesne lands surrounding Abbey House and is located 620m SE of the ruins of the Augustinian Priory (LI029-031006-) on the Main Street in Rathkeale. The site is depicted as a small circular enclosure or antiquity on the 1840 ed. OSi 6-inch map. Not shown on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map or subsequent maps. The enclosure is not visible on either the OSi orthoimage taken 2005-12 or on the Digital Globe orthoimages taken 2011-2013. The site (ext. diam. c. 12.5m N-S; 12.5m E-W) is faintly visible on the Google Earth orthoimage taken 05/02/2009, but not visible on the orthoimage taken 28/06/2018. The monument could be a ring-barrow or landscape demesne feature / tree-ring. A similar feature survives 125m E of the site in the next field and is visible both on aerial orthoimages and on the 1897 ed. OSi 25-inch map. See attached Google Earth orthoimages Compiled by: Edmond O’Donovan Date of upload: 25 September 2020

Architectural heritage

• Gates/railings/walls, 1840–1860 · Regional interest
  Description

  Cut limestone entrance gateway, erected c. 1850, comprising cut limestone piers supporting elliptical arch with cornice above. Cut limestone voussoirs and imposts to arch. Cast-iron double-leaf gate. Rubble stone boundary walls to either side. Pointed arch opening to west wall with cut limestone chamfered surround and timber battened door.

• Water pump, 1890–1910 · Regional interest
  Description

  Freestanding cast-iron water pump, erected c. 1900. Now disused. Comprising fluted cylindrical shaft, fluted domed cap with acorn finial and spout.

Designated sites: National Parks and Wildlife Service. Recorded monuments: Sites and Monuments Record, National Monuments Service. Buildings: National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, CC BY 4.0. Works at or in relation to a recorded monument need two months' written notice to the National Monuments Service (National Monuments (Amendment) Act 1994, section 12).

• Abbeylands, Rathkeale6 sales

Name

Abbeylands · Cluain na mBráthar

Area

425,142 m² (42.51 ha, 105.05 acres)

Civil parish

Rathkeale, and its townlands

Barony

Connello Lower

Electoral division

Rathkeale Urban, the unit of the census

Neighbouring townlands

Ballywilliam North, Beechmount Demesne, Englishtenements, Rathkeale, Wolfesburgess East

Placenames

Abbeylands on logainm.ie, the Placenames Database of Ireland

Townlands, civil parishes, baronies and electoral divisions, National Statutory Boundaries, Tailte Éireann, CC BY 4.0. A townland is the smallest land division of Ireland, and the unit of a rural address; old registers such as the 1901 and 1911 censuses file it under its civil parish and barony.