Church

The National Monuments Service's description

According to Bradley et al. (1986, vol. 2, 161-63), Adam de Hereford granted the church of Cloncurry to St. Thomas' Abbey, Dublin. In a later grant (1206-14) the church was named as SS Mary and Martin, but was still referred to as St. Ninian's in 1491. At the centre of a small graveyard (KD004-021010-) on an early ecclesiastical foundation (KD004-021002-) which was subsequently developed as an Anglo-Norman borough (KD004-021001-). The fairly poorly preserved remains of a 15th century structure comprising a nave (int. dims. L 20.75m; Wth 8m) and rebuilt chancel (int. dims. L c. 10m; Wth 5.7m) of roughly coursed limestone masonry. Most of the quoins are missing but the door jambs are of limestone and sandstone. The nave is represented by the S and W walls (both battered and the latter standing close to full height) and the collapsed rubble of the N wall. There is a centrally placed rectangular doorway with a segmental arch in the S wall and to its E only lower courses of walling survive. The W gable has two narrow pointed opes with narrow splays and round rear arches and is capped with a double bellcote. A gap in the collapsed masonry of the N wall may indicate a second doorway, opposite the one in the S wall. The junction between the nave and chancel is missing and the chancel was rebuilt as an Aylmer mausoleum in the 18 century when the original window in the E gable was blocked up and a modern window inserted. There is also an inserted window in the N wall. The S wall of the chancel is featureless except for an inserted cusped ogee-headed ope with concave chamfers of pink sandstone, at the W end. The surviving remains may post-date 1405, when the village of Cloncurry was burnt (Gilbert 1889, 268; Killanin and Duignan 1967, 312; Meagher 1979-80, 118)

Compiled by: Gearóid Conroy

Date of upload: 10 June 2011