Church

The National Monuments Service's description

Within the NE quadrant of an ecclesiastical enclosure (GA118-057001-). On inspection in March 1984, this rectangular church (14.6m E-W; 6.4m N-S), which occupies the NW area of the surrounding graveyard (GA118-057003-), was constructed of undressed mortared limestone blocks and traces of internal and external render survived. The N and S side-walls appeared to survive to their original height but the E and W gables were more ruined. Dressed quoinstones survived on the upper courses of the four corners of the building but those on the lower courses had been removed. The doorway, towards the W end of the S wall, had a pointed arch but apart from one small fragment of a dressed stone, with a decorative moulding at its apex, all the other dressed stones had been removed. A ruined window survived at 1st-floor level to the W of the doorway and the remains of a simple round-headed window survived towards the E end of this wall. Only the base of the window survived in the E gable. An aumbry was visible to its S. The bases of two rectangular opes were also visible near the top of the N wall, opposite the doorway. Beam slots towards the W end of the N and S side-walls indicated that there was formerly a loft at this end of the church. The interior of the church was occupied by numerous graves. A pile of stone in the NE corner was the result of clearance. A number of late-18th and 19th-century graveslabs had been placed against the walls. The church appears to be of Transitional date (c. AD 1200) on the basis of the decorated fragment in the doorway and the ruined window in the S wall; however, it appears to have been altered in late-medieval times when the aumbry to the S of E window was added. The latter widens internally and has a rebate for a doorway (information from Prof. E Rynne). Two phases of construction were evident in the gable wall.
In September 2008, as a result of unauthorised works on the church, its four walls were levelled off and capped with concrete. The ruined remains of the E gable window and the bases of the two windows in the N wall were removed. The demolished material was used to construct a grotto outside the E wall of the graveyard. (O'Flanagan 1927, Vol. 2, 66-7)

Compiled by: Olive Alcock

Date of upload: 9 March 2020

The following image has been uploaded: GA118-057002-_33.jpg View from S

References

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.