Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Within the W half of an early ecclesiastical enclosure (GA094-072002-) at Roscam. This is a much-ruined multiphase medieval church (E-W; L c. 22m, Wth 6.48m). The N wall may have been rebuilt inside the line of the original wall as its lower courses are not bonded into the E gable wall, which extends northwards beyond it. Traces of two doorways are evident in the N wall; that at the W end is blocked up while only the opening survives of that at the E end. There is a robbed-out window in the E gable; traces of two others are evident in the S wall. Access to roughly three quarters of the interior of the church is impossible due to the massive amount of field-clearance rubble that has been dumped inside it. Only a short section at the E end is free of this material. Here two slabs in the ground in the SE corner mark the site of a burial vault (L 1.25m; Wth 4.6m; T 0.18m). (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 1, 323-4; Fahey 1901a, 228-9; Athy 1914, 162-3)

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Galway Vol. I - West Galway'. Compiled by Paul Gosling (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1993). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

The following images have been uploaded:
GA094-072001-_01 General view of church, graveyard (GA094-072003-) and round tower (GA094-072004-).
GA094-072001-_02 Overall view of church from SW
GA094-072001-_03 Blocked doorway at W end of N wall
GA094-072001-_04 E gable, from W
GA094-072001-_06 Looking W along rubble-filled interior

Updated by: Olive Alcock

Date of revised upload: 8 August 2019

This monument was taken into Ownership under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 - National Monument 46.

References

Lynch Athy, M. 1914 Notes on the Ordnance Survey Letters relating to the Barony of Dunkellin, Co. Galway: IV - Oranmore Parish. Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 8, 129-98.

Fahey, J. 1901a Some antiquities in the neighbourhood of Oranmore and Kilcolgan, County Galway. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 31, 228-35.

O'Flanagan, Rev. M. (Compiler) 1927 Letters containing information relative to the antiquities of the county of Galway collected during the progress of the Ordnance Survey in 1839. Typescript in 3 vols. Bray.