Ecclesiastical enclosure

The National Monuments Service's description

In grassland SE of Kiltullagh Lough. Probably the site of an early monastery (Gwynn and Hadcock 1970, 395), it is also likely to have been the location of a house of the Third Order Franciscans founded sometime after 1441 (ibid., 275; Nicholls 1973, 36; Claffey 1983, 94-5). What survives is a poorly preserved subcircular enclosure (E-W 79m, N-S 75m) which is cut by a boreen at N and S. It is defined by a low earthen bank and external fosse. A gap (Wth 10m) at E may be original. The interior contains a church (GA018-027002-) and graveyard. The latter is shown as an unenclosed circular space on 1st ed. of OS 6-inch map: the present square plan and mortared stone boundary wall appear to date from the mid-19th C. Melvin (c. 1971, 15) noted the discovery of 'a rectangle of stones ... may be an ancient grave ... not very far from the churchyard but well outside the old boundary': no visible surface trace survives. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 229)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. II - North Galway'. Compiled by Olive Alcock, Kathy de hÓra and Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1999).

Date of upload: 05 August 2010