[1] The site has a tradition of caring for sick and infirm that goes back to c. 1200 when Saint John the Baptist's Priory and Hospital was founded by Theobald Butler for the Fratres Cruciferi, an order of Augustinian canons.

The remaining ruins are to be found south-east of the hospital, at the graveyard close to the Neagh River, short before the Tyone Bridge.

[2] The Nenagh Union Workhouse and Infirmary, which was designed by George Wilkinson, was opened on the site in 1841.

[3] A modern medical facility, designed in the International Style and built on the same site, was officially opened by Seán T. O'Kelly, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Minister for Local Government and Public Health as St Joseph's Hospital on 30 September 1936.

[5] In February 2009, Government plans to move certain services from Nenagh to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Limerick were met with protests from healthcare professionals, local residents and several local businesses including the Abbey Court Hotel and a 4,000-person public demonstration.