Church

The National Monuments Service's description

The earliest reference to St. Doulagh is found in the 9th century Martyrology of Oengus where he is referred to as 'Duilech of Clochar' (Stokes 1905, 235). The present building is multi-period. It is rectangular in plan with a central residential tower that projects above the roofline and has stepped battlements. The masonry is well coursed in the central section but the blocks are more irregular in the E end. It is entered through a later addition to the building, which dates from 1864.

The E end of the building is the earliest portion, dating from the mid-twelfth century. It has a vaulted stone roof with a pitch of 68 degrees, apparently the steepest pitch in Ireland (Leask 1955, 40) and has a croft within. Chamber of entrance hall referred to as the 'hermits cell' reputed to be a burial place of founder.The central tower was added in the 15th century when the earlier W gable was demolished and the church extended (Harbison 1982, 34). The level of the stone roof is higher at the W end and there are two separate low vaulted rooms below the croft. The E ground floor window is a 13th century doublelight with tracery and sandstone jambs.

The remainder of the church is of 15th century date. A mural chamber carried on a retaining arch and squinch projects above the ground floor entrance along the S wall. The E end of the S wall is lit by a sandstone tracery window with a pointed arch. The W chamber off the first floor is lit by a trilobe cusped window and another above this is made of tufa.

Archaeological excavations were undertaken at St Doulagh's in 1989 and a number of coins and tokens were recovered, including some from the spring of the baptistry, of which the oldest was a posthumously minted silver penny of Henry VIII. Small quantities of pottery fragments of all dates from the l3th/l4th centuries onwards were recovered. There were archaeologically significant deposits in a number of areas, including stratified occupation debris, indications of both inner and outer enclosing ditches, and an area of burial. The latter contained at least six extended human burials in very shallow grave pits, directly beneath the plough-soil. These were adult burials (Swan, 1990, 18-19).

Two further periods of excavation were undertaken at this site during 1990. In the chancel of the church two fragments of roof tiling were recovered, one deeply scored and both with traces of green glaze on their outer surfaces. Along the south wall, a foundation trench 0.55m deep had been cut into the boulder clay, at the base of which a mantling of pebbles was laid. Above this, a rough paving of large, flat stones had been laid, forming the base of the wall. On this paving, a foundation of rough, uncoursed masonry rose for 0.4m to 0.45m, above which was the finely coursed masonry of the wall proper. The remnants of an early burial were set into the boulder clay at the lowest level, predating the construction of this wall.

The inner face of the north wall of the chancel had been partly dismantled to allow for a large recess with a pointed arch, which had been set into the thickness of the wall. Clearance here revealed a solid masonry plinth at a depth of 0.52m below the old flooring, upon which a complete skeleton was laid. The skull, however, had been set into a recess, consisting of a single stone with a rectangular section cut through its mass, placed in an upright position on the plinth, so that the head of the burial was completely protected, and only the face could have been viewed prior to burial. The section of the trench cut to the north of the vault revealed a well-defined ditch at a point 12.8m from the vault face. This ditch was interpreted as part of the enclosure revealed to the south of the site (DU015-009005-; Swan 1991, 24).

Compiled by: Geraldine Stout

Updated by: Christine Baker

Date of upload: 25 January 2015

References

Leask, H.G. 1955 (Reprint 1977 and 1987) Irish churches and monastic buildings, vol. I. The first phases of the Romanesque. Dundalk. Dundalgan Press.

Harbison, P. 1982 St. Doulagh's Church. Studies 83, 27-42.

Swan, D.L. 1990 St. Doulagh's, Balgriffin. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1989: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 18-19. Bray. Wordwell.

Swan, D.L. 1991a Church of St. John, The Evangelist, Coolock. In I. Bennett (ed.), Excavations 1990: summary accounts of archaeological excavations in Ireland, 25. Bray. Wordwell.

Stokes, W. 1905 The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee. London.