Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland
Church
Inis Oírr, County Galway, Ireland
The record
- Townland
- Inis Oírr
- County
- Galway
- Country
- Ireland
- First-edition OS map
- St. Cavans Church
- Latest-edition OS map
- St. Cavans Church (in Ruins)
- Coordinates
- 53.06387, -9.51400
- SMR number
- GA120-007001-
Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.
David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
Shown on 4 historical map sheets, the earliest the 1753 "Mappa geographica Regni Hiberniae" (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).
This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗
The National Monuments Service's description
Within a modern graveyard (GA120-007003-) in sand dunes close to NE shore of island. This Nat. Mon., known locally as Teampall Chaomháin, is a well-preserved nave and chancel church with a later sacristy at W end. The nave (E-W; L 6.65m, Wth 5.07m ext.) is E. Chr. with a trabeate doorway in W gable which now leads to the medieval sacristy (L 3.49m, Wth 3.36m ext.). The latter has a doorway with a pointed arch and a triangular-headed window in S wall. The chancel (L 4.22m, Wth 4.36m ext.) has a pointed arch with a transitional E window and altar below. Due to the build-up of the dune system around the church, it is now below the present ground level. The sand has been cleared away from the area immediately outside it and the sand banks have been shored and revetted to prevent further inundation. The saint's grave (GA120-007004-), just to NE, is almost buried in sand but contains a cross-slab (GA120-007007-) (Higgins 1987, vol. II, 364, no. 86). There is a midden (GA120-007002-) and a possible clochan (GA120-007006-) in the vicinity. (O'Flanagan 1927a, Vol. 3, 223-5, 417-18; Westropp 1895, 272-4; Leask 1955, Vol. 1, 73-4)
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.
Updated by: Olive Alcock
Date of revised upload: 25 January 2016
This monument was taken into Ownership under the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 - National Monument 41.
References
Westropp, T.J. 1895 Proceedings: Aran Islands. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 25, 250-74.
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.
Leask, H.G. 1955 (Reprint 1977 and 1987) Irish churches and monastic buildings, vol. I. The first phases of the Romanesque. Dundalk. Dundalgan Press.
Nearby in the register
Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.