Abbeyfeale (; ) is a historic market town in County Limerick, Ireland, near the border with

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

. The town is on the N21 road from

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

to Tralee, some south-west of

Newcastle West Newcastle West () or simply Newcastle (''An Caisleán Nua'', formerly anglicized Castlenoe) is a town in west County Limerick, Ireland. It is the largest town in the county, excluding Limerick city, It is also the county town, and sits on the ...

and south-east of

Listowel Listowel ( ; , IPA: �lʲɪsˠˈt̪ˠuəhəlʲ is a heritage market town in County Kerry, Ireland. It is on the River Feale, from the county town, Tralee. The town of Listowel had a population of 4,820 according to the Central Statistics Of ...

and north-east of Tralee.

Geography

The town is situated on the banks of the

River Feale Beach seine fishing for salmon in River Feale near by town Ballybunion, year 1975. The River Feale (''An Fhéil'' or ''Abhainn na Féile'' in Irish) rises near Rockchapel in the Mullaghareirk Mountains of County Cork in the southwest of Irelan ...

in the foothills of the

Mullaghareirk Mountains The Mullaghareirk Mountains (from ) is a range of hills in Ireland on the borders of County Cork, County Kerry and County Limerick. The area is also known as Sliabh Luachra (sometimes anglicised 'Slieve Logher'). The highest point is Baraveha ( ...

History

1418 Year 1418 ( MCDXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–December * January 31 – Mircea I of Wallachia is succeeded by Michael I of Wallachia. * ...

Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond Thomas FitzGerald, 5th Earl of Desmond (c. 1386– 1420), was the only son of John FitzGerald, 4th Earl of Desmond. Upon John's death in 1399, Thomas succeeded to the earldom of Desmond, which lay in Munster, in the southwest of Ireland. In ...

was dispossessed of his lands and deprived of his earldom by his paternal uncle, James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond, after Thomas had concluded a marriage far below his station to Catherine MacCormac of Abbeyfeale; Webb, Alfred.
A Compendium of Irish Biography
'. Dublin: 1878. Catherine was the daughter one of Thomas's dependants, William MacCormac, known as "the Monk of Feale."

Cokayne, George Edward George Edward Cokayne, (29 April 1825 – 6 August 1911), was an English genealogist and long-serving herald at the College of Arms in London, who eventually rose to the rank of Clarenceux King of Arms. He wrote such authoritative and standar ...

,
Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant. Volume III
'. London: George Bell & Sons. 1890. p. 85 A marriage between a man of Norman blood and a woman of Gaelic ancestry was in violation of the Statutes of Kilkenny.

Town

Crowded Square at Fr Casey Statue Unveiling in Abbeyfeale Limerick 1910

The main feature in Abbeyfeale's Square is a statue of Father William Casey. Fr. Casey was the parish priest from 1883 to 1907 and helped the tenant farmers fight against their landlords. The local

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

team is named in his honour ( Fr. Caseys GAA Club). Recently the town celebrated the centenary of Fr. Casey's influence by having a Fr. Casey themed Saint Patrick's Day Parade. The May Bank Holiday weekend sees the town host the "

Fleadh The Fleadh Cheoil (; meaning "festival of music") is an Irish music festival run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann (CCÉ), a non-profit organisation. The festival includes live music events as well as competition. Each year a single town or city ...

by the Feale" traditional music festival. The 2009 festival was the thirteenth of these annual events. The International

Bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

Playing Competition is one of the highlights of the festival and is held on the Bank Holiday Monday evening on an open air stage in the town square. Abbeyfeale_towncentre

The town is known for its musical traditions, and traditional musicians such as Donal Murphy and Eibhlin Healy have lived in the town. There was a cinema in the town, opened by the Tobin family in the 1930s designed in the classical tradition. Its demise came about with the advent of the multi complex and it closed in the early 1990s. It is now a protected building, and still stands today. The town had a dancehall, "The Abbey Ballroom", also established by the Tobin family in the 1930/1940s. Many big bands of the time played there. With the opening of the dance/pubs it closed in the 1980s. The town previously had an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

, located in the centre of the town square, but this has since all but disappeared, and the only identifiable remnants are those used in the construction of the Roman Catholic Church in 1847, on the site of the current boys national school on Church street. Church street as it is now know was originally named Chapel street, as can be seen in old period OS maps of the town. The

Geraldine Geraldine may refer to: People * Geraldine (name), the feminine form of the first name Gerald, with list of people thus named. * The Geraldines, Irish dynasty descended from the Anglo-Norman Gerald FitzWalter de Windsor * Geraldine of Albania, th ...

Portrinard Castle (or Purt Castle) is situated about 2.5 km northwest of the town, on the north bank of the Feale.

Transport

Abbeyfeale railway station opened on 20 December 1880, but was finally closed on 3 November 1975. The

Great Southern Trail The Great Southern Trail, comprising the Limerick Greenway and North Kerry Greenway, is a greenway (landscape), greenway rail trail under development in County Limerick and County Kerry in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. As of October 2022, of th ...

is a greenway

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

that follows the route of the former Limerick-Tralee railway line between Abbeyfeale and

Rathkeale Rathkeale () is a town in west County Limerick, in Ireland. It is 30 km (18 mi) southwest of Limerick city on the N21 road to Tralee, County Kerry, and lies on the River Deel. Rathkeale has a significant Irish Traveller population, and ...

. Bus Abbeyfeale is served by

Bus Éireann Bus Éireann (; "Irish Bus") is a state-owned bus and coach operator providing services throughout Ireland, with the exception of Dublin and the Greater Dublin Area, where bus services are provided by sister company Dublin Bus. It is a subsidia ...

routes 13 (Tralee-Limerick) and Route 14 (Killarney-Limerick) and Dublin Coach from Tralee/Killarney to Dublin

Education

Schools include Coláiste Íde agus Iosef, a secondary school serving Limerick and surrounding counties. The boys' school is called St Mary's and the girls' school is called Scoil Mháithair Dé.

Sports

Abbeyfeale has a number of sporting clubs, including Father Caseys

club, Abbeyfeale United FC

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club, and Abbyefeale RFC (

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Notable people

* Phil Danaher, Irish Rugby International and Gaelic Footballer (Limerick Senior team, Kerry minor team), grew up in Abbeyfeale. *

Michael Lenihan Michael Lenihan O.F.M. (22 September 1951 – ) is the Archbishop of San Pedro Sula. He previously served as the first Bishop of La Ceiba from 2012 to 2023 and as the vicar general of and a parish priest in the Diocese of Comayagua.

, Bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of La Ceiba Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

in Honduras, was born in Abbeyfeale. *

Denis Behan Denis Behan (born 2 January 1984) is an Irish football coach and former player who played as a forward. He spent many years playing for League of Ireland clubs Cork City and Limerick, as well as in the English Football League for Hartlepool Uni ...

, former striker for Cork City and Republic of Ireland U23. * Richard J. Hayes, World War II cryptographer and Director of the National Library of Ireland.

References

External links

Fr. Caseys GAA ClubAbbeyfeale United Soccer ClubAbbeyfeale OnlineAbbeyfeale Rugby Club WebsiteFleadh by the Feale WebsiteAbbeyfeale Golfing Society
{{Roman Catholic Diocese of Limerick, state=collapsed Towns and villages in County Limerick