Church

The National Monuments Service's description

In a graveyard (CL015-094002-) on a knoll in low-lying estuarine marsh near the N bank of the W-flowing Inagh River. Accessed via a relict footpath from the N. 

Mason (1814, vol. 1, 487-8) observed that the ruins of the church survived but that few traditions regarding St Mainchín persisted, except ‘the awkwardness of the site he pitched upon for his church’. According to Westropp (1900-2, 109-10), a church was founded by St Mac Creiche ‘about 580’ and named for his disciple Mainchín. The church was reputedly built in the dún of Baoth Bronach, king of Corcomroe, who bequeathed the land to the saint (Archdall 1873, Vol. 1, 84-5; Westropp 1910, 154). The site was included by Sheehan (1982, 46) among the early historic ecclesiastical sites in north Clare. Valued at 40s in the 1302-6 Ecclesiastical Taxation, Kilmanaheen has been identified by Ní Ghabhláin (1995, 80) as among a group of ‘high-status parish churches’ that may have been episcopal churches. The church is depicted stylistically and labelled ‘Killmenahean Ch.’ on the Grand Jury Map of Clare (Pelham 1787). O’Donovan reported that ‘not a stone now remains above another, but its graveyard is still in use’ (Comber 1997, 105). The church is not indicated on the first (1840) or Cassini (1916) editions of the OS 6-inch map, but the surrounding graveyard is shown and labelled ‘Kilmanaheen Burial Gd’ on the former map and ‘Kilmanaheen Grave Yard’ on the latter. 

The possible remains of a church comprise a rough, overgrown wall footing (L 7m; Wth 0.6m) in the W part of the graveyard. 

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy and Eve Campbell 

 

Date of upload: 8-10-2025

References

Archdall, M. 1873-6 Monasticon hibernicum: or, a history of the abbeys, priories, and other religious houses in Ireland. 2 vols. Dublin, W. B. Kelly.  

Mason, W.S. 1814-19 A statistical account or parochial survey of Ireland, 3 vols. Dublin. Faulkner-Press. Large, S. 2011 A church and graveyard survey in County Clare. Database and photographic record. Clare County Council. Clare Heritage Forum. The Heritage Council.

Westropp, T.J. 1900-02 The churches of Co. Clare and the origin of the ecclesiastical divisions in that county. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Series 3, vol. 6, 100-180.

Sheehan, J. 1982 The early historic church-sites of North Clare. North Munster Antiquarian Journal 24, 29-47. Comber, M. (ed.) 1997 The antiquities of County Clare: John O’Donovan and Eugene Curry: Ordnance Survey Letters 1839. Clasp Press. Ennis. Westropp, T.J. 1910 Notes on the antiquities round Kilfenora and Lehinch, Co. Clare, Part 2. Journal of the North Munster Archaeological Society 1, 91-107. Pelham, H. 1787 (Reprint 1989) Map of county Clare. Dublin. Phoenix Maps. Ní Ghabhláin, S. 1995 Church and community in medieval Ireland: the Diocese of Kilfenora. The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 125, 61-84.