In 1837, Samuel Lewis's Topographical Dictionary of Ireland described Abbeymahon like this:
ABBEYMAHON, a parish, in the barony of IBANE and BARRYROE, county of CORK, and province of MUNSTER, 1 ½ mile (E. S. E.) from Timoleague; containing 3563 inhabitants. This parish is situated on the northwest side of Courtmacsherry bay, on the south coast: it formerly constituted part of the parish of Lislee, from which it was separated on the erection of an abbey by some Cistertian monks, which stood close to the shore, and was endowed by Lord Barry with 18 ploughlands, but was not entirely completed at the general suppression of monasteries, when its possessions were seized by the Crown and granted to the Boyle family, and are still the property of the Earl of Shannon. ...
The parish comprises 3475 statute acres: the land is in general good, and under an improving system of tillage: there is a considerable extent of bog, which supplies plenty of fuel. The ordinary manures are sand and sea wrack afforded by the shore of the bay, in collecting which, during the season, numerous persons find employment.
The living is an impropriate cure, in the diocese of Ross, and in the patronage of the Earl of Shannon, in whom the rectory is wholly impropriate, and who allows the curate a voluntary stipend; the tithes having merged into the rent, the parish is now considered tithe-free. There is no church; but divine service is regularly performed in a private house licensed by the bishop. In the R. C. divisions this parish is the head of a union or district, comprising also Lislee, Kilsillagh, and Donoghmore, and containing two chapels, situated respectively at Abbeymahon and Lislee. The parochial schools are principally supported by the Cork Diocesan Association; the school-house was given by C. Leslie, Esq. There are also a Sunday school and a hedge school. The ruins of the abbey consist of the walls of the church, which are tolerably entire, and a square tower mantled with ivy.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Abbeymahon, in and County Cork | Map and description, A Vision of Ireland through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofireland.org/place/30080
Date accessed: 07th November 2024
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