Kilcooly Abbey

From Urlingford the R689 runs south to the ruins of Kilcooly Abbey (National Monument), in Tipperary county, a daughter house of Jerpoint founded in 1182. The entrance is on the west side of the property. The church, built in 1445-70 on the site of an earlier church, contains a wealth of sculpture. The screen between the south transept and the sacristy has a whole series of reliefs - the Crucifixion, St Christopher, a bishop, a mermaid with a mirror followed by two fish, coasts of arms of the Butler family. Notable among the monuments in the choir is the tomb of Piers Fitzjames Og Butler, with his reclining effigy as a knight and panels of saints and Fathers of the Church as weepers. Rory O'Tunney, who carved this tomb about 1526, was