The next occupiers were the Hodges, of Foynes Island and Shanagolden, who were closely connected by marriage with the Greenes. George Hodges, who died in 1788, was succeeded by his cousin, George Morgan, of Foynes Island, ancestor of the present holder.1

There are many stories connected with the nunnery and its various owners. Most of them are of the ghostly order, but one or two possess a more general interest.

Tradition says that in one of the numerous wars waged between the Geraldines and Butlers an Earl of Desmond was surprised and besieged in Shanid. The stronghold was impregnable, but the Earl's harper admitted the besiegers by a postern gate. The traitor had bargained that he should be raised higher than his master, the Earl. The leader of the Butlers, who seems to have possessed a sense of humour, fulfilled the promise by hanging him from the battlements.

During the confusion the Desmond, carrying his Countess on his saddlebow, made good his escape. A certain kerne of the Butlers drew a bow at a venture, and the arrow passing over the Earl's shoulder pierced his lady. Desmond carried her, apparently dead, through the south gate of the Abbey, and she was hastily buried under the altar in the chapel. He then made his way to Askeaton. The legend goes on to state that the unfortunate lady had been buried alive, and that her spirit haunts the scene of her horrible death.

At the beginning of the late century the country people were wont to declare that, prior to the Reformation, the Abbey had been dissolved by the Pope on account of the bad conduct of the then Prioress. It would appear that she, a lady of the Fitzgeralds," had taken to witchcraft and "fortune-telling." The surrounding gentry were wont to consult her before going out to battle, and she had wrought much evil in the district.

1655, died 1745. The tomb of his wife Catherine, daughter of Captain Horsey, is in the chancel of Shanagolden Church. His will mentions three sons, Godfrey, ancestor of the Greeneville family, George of Old Abbey, and Richard. Peirce, his eldest son, had been murdered in 1703, while John, of Greenmount, County Limerick, ancestor to the family of that name, was probably another son. He is claimed as such in the Greenmount pedigree. For a note on Thomas Green, of Meelick, County Clare, and an illustration of his seal, see Journal, vol. xxi. (1890), p. 73.

George Greene, High Sheriff of County Limerick, 1732, died 1759, and by his wife Margaret, daughter of David Crosbie, of Ardfert, left a son, John Greene, who married the daughter of Daniel Toler, of Beechwood, County Tipperary. This was the last Greene to reside at the Abbey.

A deed of 1775 between James and John Morgan (of Donmoylan), and John Greene of Letteville (late of Old Abbey), to which John Hodges, of Old Abbey, is a witness, shows the succession of families.

The Hodges, who held much land in Limerick, Clare, and Tipperary, were probably Cromwellians. Their oldest tomb at Shanagolden dates 1706. The descendants of Godfrey Green Monsel Hodges, of Old Abbey, are at present in Australia. The other branches would appear to be extinct in the male line.

Mary, daughter of George Hodges, of Shanagolden, who died 1755, married John Morgan, of Donmoylan, who claimed descent from Sir Edward Morgan, Bart., of Llantarnam, Wales.

After the departure of the other nuns she remained in the deserted convent, taking up her abode in the sacristy, which is still called the

Tho. Wistrony 1902

OLD ABBEY, COUNTY LIMERICK-THE PRECINCT.

Black Hag's Cell. She attained a great age, "so old that her face was quite black," and she was frequently seen in the fields gathering herbs.

One morning she was found dead in front of the little door which leads from the church into the sacristy.

It is possible that this legend has its origin in the fact that one of the nuns may have lingered on in the building after the dissolution. The more circumstantial details probably arose from the Irish name of the place, which the peasantry translate "the Abbey of the Black Hag." Towards the close of the eighteenth century, and when some young men-Greenes, Hodges, and Morgans-according to the story, were playing at handball in the south-east corner of the cloisters, the ball got lodged in one of the gables. One of the party more adventurous than the rest clambered up, and in the course of his search discovered a small box, which on examination was found to contain the church plate of the Abbey. According to my informant, the plate was sent to the then Lord Cork.

A tradition, preserved in the Morgan family, declares that at one time the place had been in the possession of Sir Walter Raleigh. I am inclined to think, however, that this story arose from the fact that so many of the Raleigh grants eventually came into the hands of the Boyles. It may, however, be noted as a curious circumstance that a man called Raleigh, whose daughter was in my grandfather's service, came all the way from Limerick "to kiss," as he said, "the sod once held by my ancestor."

It may be mentioned that some sixty years ago, when the stone floor of the most southern room of the house was being relaid, several skeletons were found, and that in the early "fifties" my uncles uncovered a stone cist containing a clay dish and a skeleton in a crouching posture. The position of this cist is marked F on the plan. In 1901 the remains of some fifteen persons were discovered in the plot marked G. They had been buried in clayey and stony soil at a depth of about two feet.

The first skeleton found was buried north and south, and in line with the cist. It lay on its back, and the size of the bones, which were in their natural order, would seem to indicate that they had belonged to a large man. The skull was in good preservation, but had been cracked by the spade, and came to pieces on being much handled. With the exception of slight decay in the molars, the teeth were perfect, but much ground down.

To the south of this skeleton came many bones in no particular order; many of them would seem to have been those of children. It is possible that this portion of the Abbey lands had once been a place of pagan burial.

About a quarter of a mile to the west of the house, and in a small swamp or rush-bog bordering the banks of a stream, were found many bones and several bronze weapons. Of these latter, a spear-head, two axeheads, three celts (two socketed and one flanged), and a brooch or cloakpin, are still preserved at Old Abbey House. The remaining implements came into the possession of the Rev. Robert Gabbett, of Foynes.

So far I have dealt with the history of the nunnery, and with the antiquities found near its remains. To complete as far as possible my paper, I now insert a description of the ruins by Mr. T. J. Westropp, who made it, with the plans and illustrations, for me.

OBJECTS FOUND NEAR OLD ABBEY, COUNTY LIMERICK.

1, 4. Socketed Celts. 2. Spear-head.

3. Nail.

5, 6. Axes. 7. Flanged Celt.

THE CONVENTUAL BUILDINGS.1

THE ruins of the convent and the precinct of St. Catherine's Convent in Ogonyll, or "Manisternagalliagh," are of very considerable interest, and afford many problems by no means easy of solution. The remains consist of a large cloister court surrounded by other buildings: a long narrow church projects from the centre of the eastern face; it is flanked by two small apartments opening into the cloister, that to the south of the church being evidently a sacristy. The refectory (with a long, low, projecting building, extending southward to the stream, and probably a kitchen) lies along the south wall of the court. To the west is a massive structure with buttresses, and at least three vaulted rooms underneath. It is older than the adjacent walls of the cloister, which embody its buttresses. The church and cloister walls are of one piece, and, though the refectory gables are only bonded at the top, the windows are of the same age as the church, early thirteenth century. Some

1 By Thomas Johnson Westropp, M.A., M.R.I.A., Vice-President.

rebuilding and considerable alteration and mutilation of portions of the church took place late in the fifteenth century. To this period belong its north doorway and east window. The sacristy, commonly called "the Black Hag's Cell," is also an after-thought, and not bonded into the church; the south window is of late and bad design. The sacristy closes an older doorway in the western wall. The kitchen, though rude and plain, is also late, abutting against the refectory in awkward contiguity with an early window. A small structure, possibly a

garderobe, projects near its south-eastern angle.

The orchard and garden of Old Abbey House probably correspond to ancient enclosures. The old fish-pond remains in the latter. Another walled field, nearly surrounded by two little streams, seems of conventual origin; and, to the south of it, old earthworks and an ancient gateway with the curious circular pigeon-house mark the limit of the ancient precinct.