Church

The National Monuments Service's description

At the S end of a low hill overlooking a small stream and turlough to the S. This medieval nave and chancel church (19.4m E-W; 4.5m N-S) is very poorly preserved and densely overgrown with ivy. It stands at NW edge of an irregularly shaped graveyard (GA104-151003-). A survey by Chappel (2001, 6-11) indicates that number of phases of construction are discernible and that the earliest part of the church appears to be the E gable, which dates to the late 12th/early 13th century. Its lower courses, which are battered, bear an in-situ dressed stone with diagonal tooling in the external wall face and an aumbry at the S end of the internal face that is similarly dressed. The church appears to have been remodelled and extended to the W in the late 15th/early 16th century when the majority of this gable was demolished and rebuilt. During this phase a number of dressed stones bearing diagonal tooling were reused in the wall fabric and the squat two-light ogee-headed window was inserted. Based on its construction and the form of the ogee-headed doorway and the two narrow single-light windows in the S wall, which are of 15th/16th century date, it appears that this wall is contemporary with the remodelling of the E gable. However, as would be expected, these walls are not bonded into each other. The W end of the S wall appears to have subsequently become unstable as a buttress was built against it. A double water stoup is visible on the W side of the doorway. The dressing on a quoin stone in the W gable, which stands to its full height, suggests that it dates from the late 16th/early 17th century. A number of dressed stones dating to the two earlier phases of construction were reused in its fabric. High up in the gable there is a single-light pointed window. Most of the N wall stood to its original height until 1988 when its upper five or six courses were demolished; the resulting rubble is in the adjoining field to the N (SMR file). The OS Letters (O’Flanagan 1927, Vol. 1, 183) indicate that the W end of this wall had been pulled down and rebuilt. Apart from an offset near its E end no architectural features survive and so it is difficult to date this wall. Chappel (ibid., 10) suggests it may be of late 15th/early 16th century date and may also be of two phases of construction. The interior of the church is filled with graves dating from the late medieval period (see GA104-151005- to GA104-151009-) to the 20th century. A number of architectural fragments from the church have been reused as grave-markers in the graveyard. There is a souterrain (GA104-151002-) c. 30m to the W and a house (GA104-151004-) is also associated.

Compiled by: Galway Archaeological Survey, UCG

Date of upload: 4 March 2020

References

Chapple, R.M. 1995 (2001 CD-R Edition) The church of prayers. Gravestone inscriptions from the graveyard of Killora, Craughwell, Co. Galway. Belfast. The Oculus Obscura Press.

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.

SMR file - Sites and monuments record files in the National Monuments Service, Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage.