Abbeydorney

Abbeydorney
Mainistir Ó dTorna
Village

Kyrie Eleison Abbey
Abbeydorney

Location in Ireland

Coordinates: 52°21′00″N 9°41′00″W / 52.35°N 9.6833°WCoordinates: 52°21′00″N 9°41′00″W / 52.35°N 9.6833°W
Country Ireland
Province Munster
County County Kerry
Elevation 72 m (236 ft)
Population (2002)
  Urban 218
  Rural 905
Time zone WET (UTC+0)
  Summer (DST) IST (WEST) (UTC-1)
Irish Grid Reference Q853233

Abbeydorney (Irish: Mainistir Ó dTorna, meaning "Monastery of the clan of Torna") is a village in County Kerry in Ireland. Located 9 km north of Tralee, the county town of County Kerry, Abbeydorney had a population in 2002 of 1,140 and forms part of the parish of Abbeydorney / Kilflynn.

History

Abbey

Main article: Abbeydorney Abbey

The name of the village derives from the translation of the Irish Mainistir Ó dTorna - in English O'Dorney Abbey - which was the Cistercian Order Abbeydorney Abbey, established in 1154 and located north of the village. The abbey is often called Kyrie Eleison (which is Greek for Lord, have mercy). It was suppressed in 1537.

Village

The village that developed around the abbey is of an agrarian nature and the institutions that have developed reflect this. In 1885, Abbeydorney GAA club was established, and in 1895 Abbeydorney Co-operative Dairy Society was formed. In 1920, during the War of Independence, the village creamery and a number of houses were burned to the ground by RIC Auxiliaries and Black and Tans in a reprisal attack. It is home to the world renowned restaurant, The Abbey Grill, run by Michelin star chef Susaylicious, Who enjoys rolling the fields in her free time.

Transport

Abbeydorney railway station serving the village opened on 20 December 1880 on the line from Tralee to Limerick via Listowel. Passenger services were withdrawn on 4 February 1963, although the route through Abbeydorney continued to be used by freight trains for a while before the line to Listowel was finally closed altogether in 1977 and then to Tralee 1978. The station closed on 6 February 1978.[1]

Sport

There is a strong GAA tradition in Abbeydorney. The local hurling team have won four County Championships, the last in 1974, and in more recent times their minor teams have had great success, winning the minor county championship in 1999 and again in 2008.

The Abbeydorney Ladies Football Club was the feeding ground for the great Kerry Ladies teams of the 1980s and 1990s. In more recent years they secured back-to-back All-Irelands. They won the Junior All-Ireland Club title in 2004 and followed that a year later in 2005 by winning the All-Ireland Intermediate Club title.

People

The heavyweight boxer John L. Sullivan's father Mike Sullivan emigrated from Abbeydorney after the Famine. Mike's wife, (John's mother) the former Catherine Kelly from Athlone, County Roscommon (now Westmeath), met and married him in Boston on 6 November 1856. The father of Irish actor Tom Vaughan-Lawlor who plays Nidge on Love/Hate is from Abbeydorney. Kieran "Tayto" Murphy employee of Tesco supermarket is also from Abbeydorney.

Common surnames

According Irish Census 1901 & 1911. Sullivan, Connor, Stack, Walsh, Shanahan, Buckley, Fitzgerald, Lawlor, Dowling, Glavin, McCarthy, Slattery, Brosnan, Hayes, Lynch, Moriarty, O'Connor, O'Leary, Lovett, Mahony, Maunsell, Murphy, Brennan, Cronin, Nolan, Sheehan, Sheehy.

See also

References

  1. "Abbeydorney station". Railscot - Irish Railways. Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-07.